Author(s): Cedra Goldman & Traci Rose Rider
The focus on what constitutes a “healthy building” is shifting from specifically looking at how the design and operation of buildings impact the global environment to also being concerned about how buildings impact the health of occupants who live and work in our built environments. Public health issues such as obesity, asthma, and depression, are issues that Architects, Urban Planners, and Interior Designers need to help solve. Architects have a responsibility to safeguard the health of the people that occupy their buildings/spaces. There is also a market-driven shift towards the creation of health-promoting buildings as is evident in the increased adoption of certification tools like the WELL Building Standard(TM) and Fitwel®. Our academic institutions need to recognize these trends, and work to provide a comprehensive education to students in order to facilitate the development of future leaders that are advocates for healthy built environments. This paper will focus on the “Why, What, and How” of providing education related to health-promoting buildings. It will discuss why health-promoting buildings are important from a public health perspective, what the current trends are related to “wellness” in the built environment, and how schools of architecture can play a role in advancing efforts to create health-promoting built environments.
Volume Editors
ISBN
978-1-944214-26-5