Well-being in the Built Environment
As people inhabiting urban centers, we spend most of our lives in indoor spaces. This built environment strongly contributes to our physical and mental health. Since these interiors have such an influence on our health, why not design spaces that are flexible and capable of providing balance, comfort, and well-being?
Fede on the way to work
Healthy and Biophilic Buildings and People
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the average person spent 75%-80% of their day at work and/or at home. Now, this figure has increased to almost 100% of the hours in a day. The pandemic has challenged us to re-adapt to a new way of life, emphasizing the need to design healthier buildings and give more importance to the spaces where we live and work.
The present and future of design is in going back to the basics! Incorporating biophilic design, natural lighting, high air quality, outdoor workspaces, and areas for socialization as basic concepts in workspaces will both increase people's quality of life and reduce the impact on the environment.
In healthier spaces, people will be healthier. When cleanliness, health, and well-being are priorities in a workspace, there will be:
an increase in performance and productivity
an increase in motivation
fewer chronic and viral illness
Strategies to Improve the Built Environment
Air and Ventilation
Access to natural air is the most important factor for a healthy indoor space because natural ventilation helps dilute air particles and renew the air indoors with oxygen.
Optimal and comfortable spaces can be established with proper ventilation analysis technology and ventilation engineering methodologies. Understanding factors such as temperature, humidity, wind velocity, radiation and activity being carried out on site can better ensure good air quality and ventilation design.
Indoor air conditions can frequently be better quality than outdoor air conditions. Depending on the present environments, specific filtration systems may be needed, such as heavy duty filters to capture more particles, ultraviolet filters to eliminate bacteria and pathologies in air distribution ducts, or carbon filters that remove ozone particles.
Water
Water must be high quality and accesible to every person. It's important to periodically measure the water quality to be able to determine if there are traces of organic and inorganic materials or pesticides and install the necessary filters accordingly.
Another strategy is to implement water fountains, or access to water, at certain distances for more frequent consumption.
Lighting
Good lighting design and proper use of light is one of the strategies that has the biggest effect on our bodies. Using available and natural daylight for working or taking part in any activity helps to increase productivity and promotes better sleep because it synchronizes us with our circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm is a natural and internal cycle that regulates our sleep-wake cycle.
Other strategies: utilize simulation tools to avoid a light overexposure as well as install occupancy sensors to save energy.
Sound
Exposure to loud noise caused by traffic, industrial equipment, motors, and telecommunications equipment in the workplace and places of rest is directly associated to reduced sleep, hypertension, and poor concentration in adults and children. A key strategy to improve the impact of sound is to map and measure the decibels for internal and external noises in order to select the sounds you want to reduce. Additionally, designing different spaces for different kinds of interactions associated with different noise levels: for example, a quiet space for reading, studying and resting and a more active space for meetings, socializing and collaborative work.
Thermal Comfort
Thermal comfort is the most subjective point and varies with each occupant. One strategy is to design spaces with a 2 degree difference in temperature so that the occupants can choose where to be depending on what temperature fits them best.
Accessibility
Every space should be designed so that a diverse range of occupant abilities can occupy the it. The workplace must consider the best practices in universal design in order to accommodate different abilities and needs. This should be taken into consideration from the structural design and physical access, the implementation of multi-sensiorial tools and technologies, as well as through company policy.
Mental Health
Establish policies and allocate spaces for relaxation, reading and meditation with soft lighting and biophilic elements. Promote movement throughout the day with planned activities, access to active working spaces and encouraging good habits such as taking the stairs if possible.
Materials
Be conscious. When selecting materials, know what elements a material is made with and how it is made. Avoid toxic and volatile ingredients. Manage waste and surplus materials for responsible on site management.
Office diagram illustrating multiple strategies for health and wellbeing in the workspace
Regenerative, Interconnected, and Smart Cities
A part of our individual and collective wellbeing, alongside encouraging healthy indoor environments, is promoting spaces for social and community connection. Built projects should be thought out and developed as part of a community and not as an 'island'. Some points to consider in order to move towards more regenerative spaces:
consider the implementation of systems to catch and reuse water in various cycles
promote areas to grow food and exchange, as well as composting
celebrate what is unique in a place: art, culture, flora and fauna