The Healthy Buildings Movement

by Marcy Marro | March 1, 2021 12:00 am

There was an article in Wired magazine recently called, “The ‘Healthy Building’ Surge Will Outlast the Pandemic.”[1] Author Sonner Kehrt discusses how the healthy building movement in architecture started several years ago when architects and public health officials were starting to recognize that sustainable building improvements, such as larger windows and quieter HVAC systems, were beneficial to those who lived and worked in the building. Now, over the last several months of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been increased interest in the role indoor environments play in our health. Since we spend 90% of our time indoors, even during a normal year, developers and owners are recognizing that having safer indoor environments is a necessity.

In this month’s Constructive Insights, Alan Scott discusses just this topic. In his column, A Smart Building is a Healthy Building[2], he shares how the pandemic has accelerated health, wellness and technology trends, while also bringing more attention to ventilation and indoor air quality in buildings. But in addition to designing spaces for optimized ventilation, enhanced filtration and optimal indoor air quality, Scott notes the other trend coming out of the pandemic is a move toward flexible work environments, aided by evolving smart building technology.

Also, this month, we have our 35th Annual Architects Survey[3]. While last year brought a lot of change and uncertainty, it seems that the slow down wasn’t as bad as expected. Survey respondents continue to remain optimistic and were more likely to specify metal building products last year than the year before. Even with the uncertainty that lays ahead in regard to the vaccine rollout, long-term design changes and the continued instability of the construction workforce, responses to many questions remained steady.

The long-term effects of the COVID pandemic will continue to be seen as we start to move forward. While the vaccine helps bring a light to the end of the tunnel, there will be many more long-term changes, both in terms of building design and layout and for life in general. Next month we’ll start to dig into more of how the pandemic has affected building design and construction.

Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/blog/the-healthy-buildings-movement/

---