Framework for Design Excellence: Design for Well-being
Good design supports health and well-being for all people, considering physical, mental, and emotional effects on building occupants and the surrounding community.
- How can the design encourage a healthy lifestyle?
- How can the project provide for greater occupant comfort?
- How can the project be welcoming and inclusive for all?
- How can the project connect people with place and nature?
- How can material selection reduce hazards to occupants?
Focus topics
- natural and artificial lighting
- thermal comfort
- indoor air quality
- mental and social well-being
- acoustics
- movement /exercise
- nourishment
If you can do only one (or a few) thing(s):
- Design interior and exterior paths and public and semi-public destinations to encourage positive informal social interaction among neighbors, acquaintances, and associates.
- Provide operable windows in regularly occupied spaces.
- Give occupants individual control over their immediate thermal and lighting systems.
- Maximize indoor air quality through increased outside air and pollutant mitigation.
- Include biophilic elements that engage a variety of senses.
- Vary environments to promote physical activity.
- Provide occupants with access to plentiful filtered drinking water.