PUNCH LIST
for driving health and wellness in the built environment, it’s intending to connect with the different kinds of products that are offered out there and the different scales of services available.
ISABELLA NUNEZ
gb&d: I read that you’ve asked yourself what you can do to tackle the challenges presented by the growth our population is expected to hit by 2050. How is that going? Arias: You know, I’m realizing that working to improve the human condition from the perspective of health connections to the built environment is really meaningful work. And while I have no position about gb&d
population growth production—so the economics in me isn’t what compelled me to make a declaration there—I do think that preparing our people, our workforce, and our urban systems, as well as our environmental concerns, in a holistic manner will move society toward a higher quality of life. I think about my nieces and my little nephew that’s about to join the family, and I’m highly interested in ensuring that the youngest generations are able to work themselves out of complications. I think about honoring our aging community as well and understanding all of the things that they’ve learned and experienced and translating it down the
ABOVE Fernando Arias is overseeing an education and technology platform to help designers and architects make smarter design decisions about projects, materials, and building components that place occupant health and wellness first.
generation pipeline—that’s all so appealing to me. I think I’ve been doing a lot to tackle these challenges, and really, it’s less about confronting it as though I’m standing in front of the wave but rather looking at empowering folks to make the decision to stand sideways and let the wave wash over them. gb&d march–april 2015
113