Wellness

there is no doubt that in the past five years, health and well-being have become powerful drivers for design. now we need to ask, what kind of health, and whose well-being? current understanding of mental health puts it at the core of debates about user experience, while long-standing concerns around sustainability and inclusivity are taking new forms. Here are some emerging perspectives on wellness for mind, body, and planet.

Bridge Boston Charter School, completed by HMFH Architects in 2017, was designed to support the emotional and mental well-being of students and their families (page 68).

a new home base for a school in Boston supports students’ well-being both in and out of the classroom. By James McCown

A Bridge Farther

“A modern plan is successful only when it embraces every human need,” wrote architecture critic lewis

Mumford in The Culture of Cities in 1938. nowhere is this truer than in elementary education. take Bridge

Boston charter school (BBcs) in the city’s roxbury neighborhood, completed by HMFH architects in 2017. a substantial percentage of the pre-k–8 school’s 335 students are from families that are homeless or facing challenges such as alcoholism or addiction. a newly renovated home for BBcs provides the equipment for academic success, engenders neighborhood pride, and in so doing helps fulfill the school’s mission: “to remove the health and social obstacles that hinder student learning.” significantly, both physical and mental wellness are embedded in the school’s programs and the building’s design. in addition to free, healthy meals and physical education—with the requisite kitchen and gym facilities—the Program in education afterschool and resiliency was developed to address bullying, substance abuse, and student anxiety and depression. the newly reimagined building’s bright, upbeat spaces make for a fertile backdrop in this effort. it wasn’t easy getting to this point. Principal Jennifer daly remembers opening the school in 2011 in rented space in a Baptist church. “we were in one room with a single light switch,” she recalls. another lackluster space followed. But in 2014, a real estate agent took her to see a shuttered community health center that seemed to hold some potential as a permanent home for the school.

HMFH architects of Boston, in a $25 million project, transformed the building by adding space, constructing a gymnasium and a playground, and most of all, renovating an existing atrium

In 2017, Bridge Boston Charter School (BBCS) moved into a new home (opposite) renovated by HMFH Architects. The project’s design elements—like a lightfilled atrium that serves as a community space (this page)—support and nurture children’s social and emotional well-being as well as academic and creative development.

The atrium at BBCS serves as a gathering place for students and family members alike—even after hours. It also gives the project a “center,” as Jennifer Daly, school principal at BBCS, points out.

that would become the heart and soul of the school. “The existing building was a Brutalist bunker broken up into small clinical spaces,” says laura Wernick, senior principal at HMFH. “The challenge was opening it up and making it warm and welcoming for students in the most vulnerable situations.”

The most impactful part of the project, daly explains, was the architects’ efforts “to give the building a center.” The atrium also serves as a library and meeting place. notches in the balconies are filled in with glass, encouraging students to wave across the lighted expanse. Catwalks connect the brick core to the rest of the building—a fact not lost on the students, staff, or architects.

“We’ve got actual bridges to match the metaphorical bridges,” says Wernick. in the new space, not only are physical and mental needs addressed, but the arts and science programs can thrive as well. Through grants, BBCs has acquired equipment to stock its new large sTeM classroom spaces. And an acoustically tuned music room accommodates a program unique to the school: All students receive string instruments. The top floor is dedicated to an art studio. Although classes run standard hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., the building also facilitates nighttime use by families facing challenges at home, who often gather in the atrium in the evenings for meetings and fellowship.

“All of us are really focused on the families’ strengths,” daly says. “That we can all gather in a well-lit space filled with books is just like ice cream on a sunday.” M

Selecting Well

designers consider the holistic systems and cycles of the products they specify. By Joseph P. Sgambati III

The way we think about wellness is changing. designers are looking beyond the health of building occupants to that of everyone involved in the cycle of production, transportation, installation, demolition, and what comes after. similarly, we’re concerned not just with indoor air quality and toxins but also movement and interaction as daily rituals—in short, our happiness, not just our safety. the environment is also central to this expanding definition of wellness: What’s good for the planet is good for us.

We asked specifiers at cooKfoX architects and ia interior architects—two firms with reputations for designing for wellbeing and sustainability—for examples of products they turn to in support of wellness at work.

The nine products on these pages represent selections by Bethany Borel from COOKFOX Architects and Robert Atkinson, Tanya Davis, and Steven South from IA Interior Architects.

1

2

4 3

1 KVADRAT Divina

The textile boasts six environmental achievements in material composition that include GREENGUARD Gold and LBC Red List compliance.

maharam.com kvadrat.com

2 INTERFACE Visual Code

This collection is made with 100 percent recycled-content nylon, is treated with EPA-approved preservatives for longevity, and has achieved Green Label Plus status.

interface.com

3 STICKBULB Bough

Elegance meets eco-minded design: Made in New York City, these lamps are built from reclaimed and sustainably sourced wood.

stickbulb.com 4 UPOFLOOR Upofloor Zero

Enomer®, the material used in this flooring, is free from six common toxins affecting indoor air quality, helping it reach M1, the most stringent emissions class.

upofloor.com

5 WATSON FURNITURE Tia

Part recycled, part recyclable, this office system marries environmental health with the ergonomics of a standing desk, promoting movement throughout the day.

watsonfurniture.com

5

6 MUSHLUME Trumpet Pendant

This biofabricated pendant light is grown from mushroom mycelium and is completely biodegradable.

flowandchaos.com

7 GEIGER Brabo Lounge

craftsmanship, material transparency, and sustainable practices elevate this collection above industry standards, attaining Indoor Advantage™ gold certification.

hermanmiller.com geigerfurniture.com 8 BAUX Acoustic Wood Wool Panels

Responsibly sourced wood fibers make up the “wool” woven into these panels, which are moisture resistant, fire retardant, and recyclable.

baux.se

9 BENTLEY MILLS Wanderlust

This cradle to cradle silver carpet tile takes the hazards out of its fibers, backing, and adhesives to protect installers and occupants alike.

bentleymills.com 6

9 7

Redefining

Fitness rachel gutter, ceo of the international Well building institute, talks to Metropolis about Well v2 and making the standard’s movement category more inclusive. By Avinash Rajagopal

Avinash Rajagopal: Can you talk about what’s new with WELL v2 [the 2018 update to the human health and well-being certification system], especially with regard to fitness and movement?

Rachel Gutter: increasingly, we understand that our buildings can be vessels for public health outcomes. We wanted to make a number of fundamental changes from the first version of Well that would make the system more equitable and more accessible as well as affordable, and that would address the fact that [best practices for] health are not one-size-fits-all. physical activity was a place where that came up a lot. in the lead-up to launching Well v2, we held nine roundtables across the globe and what we heard were really different attitudes and approaches to physical activity. For example, the folks in australia said: “We don’t need gyms. the weather here is always perfect. you guys use gyms; we go outside. talking about subsidies for gym memberships doesn’t seem as relevant to us as sponsoring our intramural football team.” We tried to revisit the movement category within Well [one of ten such concepts in the certification system] to address not just a diverse set of needs but also a different set of traditions and desires about how you get your physical activity.

AR: Sometimes people talk about fitness from an abled perspective, but as we know, workplaces have to be not only accommodating but nurturing and supportive of people of all abilities.

Opposite: Rachel Gutter was instrumental in shaping WELL v2; MNP Tower, a WELL Certified Gold project in Vancouver, offers tenants amenities like a rock-climbing wall.

This page: Mirvac’s headquarters in New South Wales, Australia, is a WELL Certified Gold space. In WELL v2, Gutter says, “we focused a lot more on ergonomics and on building designs like central staircases.”

RG: We changed the concept name from Fitness to Movement to really stress that attitude of inclusivity. There’s a massive uptick in focus in WELL v2 on accessibility and universal design. We thought about various aspects of accessibility, going beyond the bathrooms and entryways to think about helping people navigate through spaces. Also, things like making sure that someone with disabilities could, for instance, open the windows—I believe that actually shows up in our light concept. These aspects of universal design and inclusive design are peppered in throughout the entire standard.

We also thought of the operators of the building, who often work in the worst conditions, sitting in the basement all day with the worst acoustics, with poor ergonomics and lighting. Like “Everybody keeps congratulating me on getting meditation rooms in all of our offices throughout the world. But those meditation rooms are almost always empty.” What we know intuitively is that without a culture of health and well-being in the workplace, many of the things that are called for in WELL features won’t ultimately be effective. The good news is that there are lots of things in WELL that nobody has to opt into. Nobody has to opt into better air quality, improved acoustics, better water. The most successful organizations that pursue WELL succeed because they utilize WELL as a framework for driving toward a culture of health and wellbeing, and prizing the employees’ health as an indicator of the business’s overall success. M

people with disabilities, they’re a good example of those who have been forgotten in the design of our spaces or whom we haven’t fully accounted for and considered.

We cared a lot in WELL v2 that we didn’t leave anyone out of the calculation. I think that the same could be said for those who have any kind of ability. We tried to think about how to make an environment inclusive and welcoming, but also how to encourage their movement throughout the day in a safe way.

AR: What is the relationship between corporate policy, organizational culture, and interior design when it comes to wellness?

RG: I was just with the chief mindfulness officer for a Fortune Ten company and he said: