Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Fall 2017 - 1

FROM THE FOUNDER

EMBRACING HEALTH AND WELL
BEING THROUGH BIOPHILIC DESIGN

F

rom its origins as a means of
delivering more energy efficient
buildings and fighting climate
change, the green building industry
is increasingly focused upon human
health and well being. Given that we
spend more than 90 per cent of our
time indoors, our built environment
is either damaging or nurturing us.
E.O. Wilson and Stephen Kellert's
Biophilia's Hypothesis (1984) described
the innate tendency of humanity to seek
connections with other forms of life and
lifegiving environments, particularly
those that contribute to our survival.
Our desire, for example, to be close to
moving water and vegetation are perhaps
the strongest beneficial nature-human
connections.
Despite our modern technology,
we are still hardwired to seek and
value environments that satisfy this
fundamental need for nature. By doing
so, we also improve our health and
well being and establish the basis for
market values. Researchers across half
a dozen disciplines, from evolutionary
biology to neuroscience are shedding
more light on the things we desire and
respond favorably to in our surroundings.
This has given rise to several sets of
principles or patterns of biophilic design.
My interview with green building guru
Bill Browning in this Biophilic Issue of
the Living Architecture Monitor (LAM),
explores some of these patterns in more
detail. Elizabeth Calabrese also describes
how The Living Building Challenge
and the WELL Building Standard
have biophilic design firmly embedded
in them. Health and well being is
firmly rooted in the developing Living
LIVINGARCHITECTUREMONITOR.COM

Architecture Performance Tool (LAPT),
which will be the subject of further
consultations in Seattle on September 20
by the charitable Green Infrastructure
Foundation. The LAPT is to green
roofs and walls what LEED was to
green buildings and the LAPT promises
to facilitate better design, project
performance and policy making. (see page
29) Together, these developments promise
to drive design in a biophilic direction.
The good news is that if we pay close
attention, we can now develop built
environments - be they neighborhoods or
buildings, that we know are going to be
better for people! The potential benefits
to individuals and society are enormous.
The cost of sick workers has been
estimated at more than $576 billion
annually in the U.S., of which $227
billion is employee absenteeism. Yet
designing heathier indoor environments
is a remedy to this problem. Research by
Rob Watson projects that by 2030, over
21 million employees will be working
in indoor environments with better
environmental quality through LEED
buildings, and that this will result in
additional economic value from improved
labor productivity of $90 billion. Another
related study by the Mahone Group
found that office workers with the best
possible views, those incorporating
natural life and green infrastructure as
opposed to no views, performed 10 to 25
per cent better on mental function and
memory recall. There are many more
studies that link human health, market
value and productivity to improved
biophilic working environments.
The trend towards incorporating
biophilic design principles into new and

retrofit buildings will help to further
drive the market for living architecture
technologies. Congratulations to the
many awards of excellence winning
projects featured in this LAM which
have significant and multilayered
biophilic benefits associated with them.
While they store stormwater, reduce
energy consumption and the urban heat
island, they are also engaging, desirable
and beautiful, and can therefore,
contribute to our health and well being
- yet another pathway to improving the
bottom line. Progressive, thoughtful
and sustainable firms realize this and are
growing their businesses as a result.
Learn more about the Biophilic Design
business case at CitiesAlive in Seattle this
September.
Sincerely yours,

Steven W. Peck,
GRP, Honorary ASLA
Founder and President

Delmas, Magali A. and Pekovic, Sanja
(2012). Environmental standards and labor
productivity: Understanding the mechanisms
that sustain sustainability.
Heschong Mahone Group, Inc. (2003).
Windows and Offices: A Study of Office Worker
Performance and the Indoor Environment -
CEC Pier 2003.
Watson, Rob. Green Building and Market
Impact Report - 2011.
LIVING ARCHITECTURE MONITOR / FALL 2017 / 1
http://www.LIVINGARCHITECTUREMONITOR.COM
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Fall 2017
