By design, humans inherently require shelter against the elements of sun, wind and rain, along with protection from seasonal conditions that expose our bodies to extremes of heat and cold which negatively impact our health and comfort. The basic environmental qualities necessary to sustain human habitats are those designed and maintained to provide hygienic and healthy living facilities conducive to ‘lives worth living’.

Personal and communal living facilities are the hub of communitarian association that support major aspects of our shared social, emotional and often economic lives. As a result, as collectives ‘holding all things in common’, these spaces are designed and maintained as sanctuaries—places where we live cooperatively in peace and harmony with security and dignity.

Communitarians consider both personal and communal living spaces as well as wider world facilities, accessed and utilized, as energetic extensions of ourselves. When our outer world is in alignment with the principles and practices of cleanliness and order, our inner-world, likewise, will be experienced as clean and organised – thus well-tended and nourished. Conversely, when our living spaces are dirty and in disarray, we may suffer mentally through feeling overwhelmed, ashamed, lethargic and stressed.