Samaritan Hospital’s Walker Center for Cancer Care includes warm wood tones and picturesque views to nature. The serene and contemplative garden serves as a visual backdrop at all infusion bays.
By Kathleen Neama, IIDA, NCIDQ, WELL AP
Architects and Interior Designers are constantly pushing themselves to be at the forefront of new ideas and trends in healthy buildings that integrate biophilic design elements – an option that is not a choice today, but a must, as the world and workplace strive to understand and adapt to life amidst a lingering health pandemic.
A new pioneering standard that puts people and their wellbeing first is also gaining attention in healthy building design. The WELL Building Standard developed by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI™) is the first measured rating system focused exclusively on advancing buildings (and everything in them) to improve comfort, drive better choices, and generally enhance – not compromise health and wellness.
People live, work, learn and heal in buildings, spending more than 90 percent of their lives indoors. Whether or not the pursuit of WELL certification is applicable to every project, its healing concepts can be used as a guideline for healthy building design with many biophilic recommendations and opportunities.
Read more via the online article at Medical Construction & Design
This article was published in the September/October 2020 Medical Construction & Design
Kathleen Neama 