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DECEMBER 2017 \ BUILDING DIALOGUE \ 43
through their practices as climate-related issues
presently affecting a broad cross-section of our cur-
rent population, their patients. So clearly, the health
of any single group of individual building occupants
cannot be considered without first examining the
prerequisite consideration of how each project im-
proves, or harms, the global environment that sup-
ports us all, and life itself.
Advancing opportunities. Impacts to individuals inspire
action. They’re relatable, and tangible. We see this
worldwide, as hundreds of communities react to in-
dividually impactful events by seeking solutions that
support survival, transforming local market preferences.
This is visible in a spreading interest in standards and
certifications such as LEED and WELL. It’s also expressed
through welcomed introduction of performance-based
private financing incentives and support of tighter
community development baseline requirements. Ulti-
mately, it’s visible in the most affected and advanced
cities and countries as a shared societal commitment to
reshaping economic, urban and social structures.
Market demand follows awareness: for higher-perfor-
mance and uplifting solutions, aesthetically, environ-
mentally and intellectually. Beautiful solutions. We as
architects participate in this evolution, not only by re-
acting to what our clients directly request, but also by
expanding conversations and knowledge. Not all benefi-
cial technologies cost more; we are empowered to pres-
ent optimized, integrated, creatively responsible design
solutions.
But what does this mean?
The alignment of individual occupant health with the
interests of global health offers an opportunity to change
the discussion: Global impacts are individual; individual
impacts are global. Occupant health, energy, water and
waste considerations interconnect, and transcend scales,
one project at a time. The new concept of beauty will
need to address all these scales of impacts.
The Colorado Health Foundation: One project at a time. In 2014
The Colorado Health Foundation assembled a team to
define a new concept, Health Positive, and embody this
in the design for its Denver headquarters. From this col-
laboration sprang a project envisioned to inspire occu-
pants and visitors, and the surrounding neighborhood,
to consider options daily that positively impact human
wellness: mental, physical, spiritual. Through a balanced
approach to resource conservation and accommodation
for future generations, the design expresses and empow-
ers the project’s holistic support of human health, and
global life.
This result aspires to bridge the scales of human health.
Following principles of Health Positive design and tar-
geting high levels of LEEDv4 and WELL certification, the
team interwove strategies. This ranged from pairing the
efficiency of a variable refrigerant flow mechanical sys-
tem with selective glazing and structure for future roof
photovoltaics to biophilic spatial continuity between
inside and out, and healthful material selections. It in-
cluded floor plates, layouts and glazed partitions for opti-
mized daylighting; efficient and variable temperature ar-
tificial lighting; abundant, varied, low-water landscaping
inside and out, including a central green wall; acoustical
and indoor air quality optimization; and celebration of
active design through highly visible, consciously crafted
grand stairway, bike and fitness room elements.
Members of The Colorado Health Foundation’s team
embraced this; their reactions moved us.
It is a humbling responsibility to contemplate beau-
ty in the built environment as delivering health, and
life. But that’s exactly what it can do. Medical impacts
on patients, research and individually devastating ex-
treme weather events render the effects on each of us of
our collective alteration of the planet no longer abstract.
They’re real and defined, making communication of the
importance of considering this in every built project eas-
ier to convey than ever before. We as architects need to
seize this opportunity and craft a new approach, create
a new form of beauty that truly responds to these chal-
lenges and leads the way to an architecture that supports
our very existence.
Our Future Market. Knowledge and technological ad-
vancements develop as quickly as the global community
changes, exemplifying the resilient promise of human
ingenuity. We face a unique opportunity as an industry
to open our minds, work together, and to consciously el-
evate our economies and communities one project, con-
sideration and priority at a time. Through a complete and
more broadly defined understanding of human health,
we can help to shape a new interpretation of beauty, and
a globally influential architecture for life. \\
ELEMENTS Sustainable Design
Beauty: the quality present
in a thing or person that
gives intense pleasure
or deep satisfaction
to the mind, whether
arising from sensory
manifestations (as
shape, color, sound, etc.),
a meaningful design or
pattern, or something
else (as a personality
in which high spiritual
qualities are manifest).