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RIGHT CBRE, pictured here, is the world’s first completed office space to achieve WELL certification under the pilot program.
PHOTO: ROBERT DOWNS, COURTESY OF GENSLER
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even years ago, a lightbulb went off in Paul Scialla ’s head: now that we’ve learned to design buildings that are healthy for the environment, isn’t it time to start designing them to be healthier for people? At the time, Scialla had just been made a partner at Goldman Sachs; he had devoted nearly half of his career to Wall Street. But never one to question an intuitive thought—or shy from a challenge—he started to investigate. “I took a look at how the word ‘sustainability’ was being used and felt there was a bit of a gap in thought,” he says. “So I started thinking about how far we can push what that word really means and advance the notion of human, or biological, sustainability.” Scialla talked to architects and designers of all stripes. He spoke with health experts, real estate professionals, and scientists in fields ranging from ergonomics and acoustics to sociology and psychology. He learned that humans spend an average of 90% of their time indoors and that indoor air quality in approximately 70% of buildings is worse than outdoor air quality. Volumes have been written on the correlation between the design of the built environment and human health, especially in the workplace. Some connections are straightforward—most people have experienced the off-gassing of new carpet or wall finishes, for example, and understand that the release of harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can lead to headaches, nausea, and fatigue. Others correlations are more subtle. The
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BELOW Paul Scialla, CEO, founded Delos, a research platform, technology incubator, and real estate development company to help make the WELL Builiding Standard a reality.
wavelength of light used to illuminate our workspaces during the day can lead to sleeplessness at night; the design of stairwells can entice us to use them or predispose us to head for the elevator; even the color and texture of wall coverings can influence whether we feel perky and productive throughout the day or bored and disengaged. “I found that this concept appeals to anyone,” Scialla says. “Everyone cares about their own health, their well-being and that of their family; and when they understand that our built environment can have a meaningful impact on how we feel, everyone gets excited.” Scialla also found, despite the overwhelming evidence link-
ing design and public health, that there was not yet a comprehensive guide, much less a standard, for integrating this knowledge into the real estate industry. So he set out to build one. “I recognized early on that if this can be accomplished it certainly needs to be shared, and it needs to be scaled globally,” he says. The economic prospects were intriguing. “Real estate is the largest asset class in the world with $150 trillion value, globally,” Scialla says. “What if we looked to intelligently infuse that with the fastest growing, and arguably most important industry—health and wellness—in itself a $2 trillion annual spend?” march–april 2015
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