Wellness in Buildings
Wellness in buildings requires a focus on occupants’ health and well-being through good design. Material health is one sliver of the pie but not the whole circle: building professionals also need to focus on moisture issues, ample ventilation, water quality and access, active design, and lighting that supports health.
Wellness in Buildings
Deep Dives
Get up to speed on complex topics. You can also earn CEUs and download PDF Spotlight Reports.
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What’s an HPD? Health Product Declaration FAQs
Feature Short
We answer frequently asked questions on HPDs, which allow manufacturers to disclose product ingredients and hazards.
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Build Green on a Budget: Lessons from Affordable Housing
Feature Article
Sustainability doesn’t have to cost more—and no one knows that better than affordable housing experts. But every project type can benefit from these 12 cost-reducing ideas that support people and the planet.
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Build More or Build Green? Affordable Housing’s False Choice
Feature Article
The housing crisis is also a climate crisis and a social equity crisis. If we change our ways, we can address them all at once.
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How to Access the Full Power of Biophilia
Feature Article
People wither physically and mentally without nature. Biophilic design is a remedy and a foundation for regenerative design all at the same time.
Quick Takes
Jump straight to the essentials with these short explanations of green building concepts.
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Neuroarchitecture: Thinking with Our Buildings
Explainer
Can the fields of cognitive science and neuroscience improve the built environment? Those studying neuroarchitecture think so.
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Sitting Is the New Smoking: Fad or Fact?
Explainer
Active design is looking less like a luxury and more like a public health imperative.
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Circadian Rhythm and the Role of Lighting
Explainer
LEDs with color tuning are now being sold, but do we really have the light formula for waking us up and putting us to sleep?
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Understanding GreenScreen and List Translator Benchmarks
Explainer
The Health Product Declaration and some other programs ask for GreenScreen benchmarks. What does that actually mean?
Product Guidance
Unbiased information from our product experts helps you separate green from greenwash.
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BuildingGreen Announces Top 10 Products for 2024
Product Review
BuildingGreen’s Top 10 industry-transforming products this year include innovative heat-pump energy storage, electric construction equipment, PFAS-free textiles, healthier lighting, PV circularity, and more.
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Hand Dryers
Product Guide
These high-performance electric hand dryers are energy-efficient, fast, and convenient.
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Antimicrobials in Building Products: the COVID-19 Edition
Product Review
Cleaning with soap and water is still the best defense against COVID-19 virus and other pathogens. Antimicrobials are not the answer.
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Do Living Walls Make for Cleaner Indoor Air?
Product Review
Nedlaw Living Wall Biofilters do more than most green walls to remove VOCs, but it’s unclear that they provide a true fresh air supply.
In The News
We break news down to the essentials and provide expert analysis.
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Continuous IAQ Monitoring: How to Use the “Endless” Data
News Brief
A new white paper will help building teams interpret and use their continuous air monitor data.
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Can “Works with WELL” Make Product Selection Easier?
News Analysis
The International WELL Building Institute has launched a new program to help users find building products and systems that align with WELL feature requirements.
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Biophilic Design’s Financial Case Is Strong As Ever
News Brief
The pandemic popularized biophilic design, says a seminal resource, in part by emphasizing the importance of green outdoor spaces.
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Surgeons General Make Urgent Call for Healthy Building Policies
News Brief
In an open letter, public health leaders implore officials to design building policies for occupant health.
Perspective
Thought-provoking opinions from the most trusted minds in sustainability.
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Bring the Noise! It Can Help You Listen.
Op-Ed
Noise-canceling headphones and tightly sealed buildings have more in common than you might think.
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A Tribute to Robin Guenther, Green Healthcare Pioneer
Op-Ed
Robin Guenther advanced new standards for hospitals that were adopted by the larger green building community and integrated into leading rating systems.
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We Spend 90% of Our Time Indoors. Says Who?
Blog Post
Where the oft-quoted statistic comes from, and what the underlying study says about health in buildings
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The Green Building Movement Has Lost One of Its Unsung Heroes
Op-Ed
Kirsten Childs 1944 – 2016
Learning Resources
Syllabus supplements and CEU content, with automatic reporting for AIA and GBCI.
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Build Green on a Budget: Lessons from Affordable Housing
Spotlight Report
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Affordable Housing or Green Housing? We Can Say Yes to Both
Webcast
Yes, available funding for building and rehabilitating affordable housing is inadequate—but that’s all the more reason to get this right when we get the chance.
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Build More or Build Green? Affordable Housing’s False Choice
Spotlight Report
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Keeping PFAS Forever Chemicals out of Building Products
Spotlight Report
Just For Fun
Something weird happens every April at BuildingGreen...
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New Occupational Hazard Threatens Unshod Office Workers
April Fools
Whistleblowers alert state health agencies to possible foot fungus scourge in laid-back Vermont and Silicon Valley workplaces.
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OK COVID, It’s HAMMER Time!
April Fools
COVID has upended our lives, homes, and offices. It’s time to fight back with HAMMER brand biocidal antifungal nonviral germicidal disinfectant antimicrobial therapeutic (BANGDAT) sprays, coatings, and composites.
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“The Helix” Is Just the Tip of Amazon’s Arlington Iceberg
April Fools
A subterranean portion of the new Amazon Helix structure will host thousands of workers.
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With GOOP, Green Building Explores New Depths
April Fools
Gwyneth Paltrow’s offering to the sustainability world rewards projects for venerating the “cradle of civilization.”
