Why Your Energy Type Needs a Different Kind of Space
An Invitation for Those Who Feel It
You can have the perfect aesthetic and still feel completely depleted the moment you walk through your door. I know because I’ve lived it, and I’ve created it for others.
We’ve been designing for how spaces look instead of how they feel. For what impresses others instead of what actually restores us.
In my previous essays, I shared how my body was calling for new way of operating and how I integrated the philosophy of practicing F L O W into my work. But I haven’t yet shared the deeper system that informed everything. The blueprint that finally explained why I work the way I do, why my spaces feel different, and why certain environments drain us while others restore us.
That system is Human Design, and it's completely transformed how I approach creating sanctuary
The System That Changed My Perspective
Human Design is a system that maps your unique energetic blueprint. It was synthesised in 1987 by Ra Uru Hu, who combined principles from ancient wisdom traditions including astrology, the I Ching, the Kabbalah, and the Hindu Brahmin chakra system, with modern science including quantum physics and genetics.
Think of it as a personalised instruction manual for how you’re designed to operate in the world. It reveals your energy type, your decision making strategy, your natural strengths, and most importantly for our purposes, how you interact with the energy of your environment.
As Karen Curry Parker explains in Understanding Human Design: The New Science of Astrology, this system offers a way to understand yourself that goes beyond personality typing. It shows you how you’re designed to work, rest, make decisions, and move through spaces. It’s not about changing who you are. It’s about understanding who you’ve always been and designing your life, and your space, accordingly.
When Everything Started Making Sense
As Karen Curry Parker articulates, this isn’t personality typing. It’s an energetic framework that reveals how you’re designed to work, rest, and interact with your environment.
When I learned I’m a Projector, everything suddenly made sense.
Projectors make up twenty percent of the population. We have what’s called a focused and penetrating aura, which means we naturally absorb and deeply read the energy of others. This is why I was consistently feeling depleted after being in open plan offices or workspaces with an abundance of other energy. I was constantly gauging how to move around other people’s energy, not always upholding or taking care of my own.
As Chetan Parkyn writes in Discover the Person You Were Born to Be, Projectors are here to guide and direct energy, not generate it ourselves. We’re designed to work in focused bursts, to see systems and people clearly, and to offer wisdom when we’re invited to share it.
Understanding this gave me permission to stop forcing myself to work like everyone else. And here’s what clicked for me professionally: if I need my space designed so differently as a Projector, with private sanctuary zones for deep restoration and clear separation between my work and rest areas, then surely every other energy type has equally specific needs that aren’t being met by conventional interior design.
The Five Energy Types and Their Spatial Needs
Human Design identifies five distinct energy types, each with fundamentally different spatial needs. Generators (37%) thrive in open, responsive environments with flow and multiple zones. Manifesting Generators (33%) need adaptable spaces that transform easily and support rapid transitions. Manifestors (9%) require privacy, boundaries, and complete sovereignty over their environment. Projectors (20%), like me, need sanctuary zones for restoration and clear separation between work and rest. Reflectors (1%) need pristine, uncluttered spaces with flexibility and connection to natural rhythms.
These aren’t preferences. According to Human Design, these are energetic configurations that inform how we’re designed to function optimally.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Let me illustrate with a concrete example of how this approach creates fundamentally different outcomes based on energy type.
For a Projector client like myself, the space would emphasise quality over quantity. Lighting that can be adjusted throughout the day to support different energy states, because we're particularly sensitive to environmental depletion. Seating that's genuinely comfortable and communicates worth, supporting focused sessions rather than extended hours. Closed storage to minimise visual clutter, as we're already absorbing significant energy from our work. Clear spatial or ritual transitions between the work zone and living areas, marking the shift from active to restorative mode. The design supports efficiency and deep restoration rather than constant availability.
Exploring through S A N C T I F Y together
What I’m offering requires a degree of openness to viewing design through an energetic lens, not just an aesthetic one. I recognise that Human Design as a system asks for a shift in perspective, particularly in a field that’s traditionally focused on visual outcomes and measurable function.
I’m not asking you to adopt a belief system. I’m offering a framework that I’ve found to be remarkably reliable in understanding spatial needs that conventional design approaches often miss. Whether you engage with the Human Design element directly or simply trust my ability to read energy and translate it into design, the outcome is the same: spaces that support how you actually function rather than how you think you should.
This is my synthesis: over fifteen years combined professional experience in fashion and interiors, and dedicated study of Interiors and Human Design as an energetic system. The integration of these creates something I haven’t encountered elsewhere in the design world.
Ready to explore what your energy type needs? Let’s begin this conversation.
Curious about your energy type and what your space could become? I'm here to guide you.
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