“Sustainable design is as much about people as it is about the environment.”
Designing buildings and spaces is a service rooted in empathy. In order to achieve a successful design, we must consider the user experience, how people relate to and interact in the space they are in, how it affects us both physiologically and psychologically. If we fail to serve the people we are designing for, it becomes failed design. To truly take a human-centric approach to design, it requires careful consideration of functionality, flexibility, and the durability and longevity what we are specifying, from materials to fixtures and furnishings. It is about ensuring safe indoor air quality, drinking water, contact to daylight and biophilia, and minimizing exposure to toxins. It is about limiting stress on the human bodily systems, and providing olfactory, acoustic, ergonomic and thermal comfort. It is about supporting physical and mental health. In short, it is about supporting human vitality.
“Sustainable design endeavors to create the healthiest most nourishing places possible for people without diminishing the ability of nature to provide nourishing places for the rest of creation and for our own species in the future.”
I intend to become a WELL Accredited Professional this summer, inaugurating my commitment to designing for the human-health, happiness, productivity and overall wellbeing; however, I will need to dig deeper than the WELL Building Standard to really be of value. For decades, we have been designing with little regard for how buildings affect out health, in many cases, manifesting into ‘sick buildings’, buildings that cannot offer healthy indoor environments. (McLennan, 2004)
Since the 1950s, over 80,000 chemicals are currently being used in the United States, of which only under 200 have been tested for potential side effects, and only 5 have removed from production, as reported in the Toxic Substances Control Act. In one study, they found that 232 chemicals were found in the umbilical cord samples. Babies are now being born with targeted immune systems and studies are linking this to higher infant mortality rates, a trend in lower IQs, and a rise in allergies, to list a few concerns. (Perkins + Will Transparency, s.d.)
Along with familiarizing myself with Declare Label Products and The Living Future’s Red List, I aim to develop my understanding of toxic chemicals in building materials by following Pharos, and The Precautionary List, on Transparency, “a gathering point for resources, news, and data supporting the open and honest disclosure of building material ingredients,” (Perkins + Will Transparency, s.d.) provided by architecture and planning firm, Perkins + Will, in collaboration with the American Cancer Society in service of the shared human vitality goals.
This principle also extends to social justice issues, and synthesizes with the next principle, Respect for place. It is important to protect the communities that are affected by building material manufacturing. Are safe and ethical practices being observed? It is about considering the factory workers that manufacture the products. Will the disposal of the products specified affect the health of the communities and their environments? It is about selecting wood that is sustainably retrieved, without impacting the wildlife. It is about protecting the diversity that we all benefit from.