In French, “mise en place” is a culinary term referring to having ingredients prepped and cooking tools accessible that can take chefs to a place of cognitive calm before preparing a meal. Similarly, when a building is intentionally designed, elements of a building can have a positive effect on the mental health and well-being of the occupants, according to research conducted by the International WELL Building Institute. The research is especially relevant as employers give new emphasis to employee mental health and well-being in stressful times amid a hoped-for return to normal indoor work and recreation (see p. 16).

The collective effect of a building’s performance on occupants is referred to as indoor environmental quality (IEQ). WELL scores a building’s IEQ health according to its WELL Building Standard by measuring a total of 10 benchmarks—including air, water, nourishment, light, movement, total comfort, material, community and mind.

标准的使用建筑健康”这个词,但我们define it as all parameters in a building performance,” says Gayathri Unnikrishnan, who serves as the New York City-based institute’s concept lead for light. “So not just the air quality,” she explains, which is wrongly seen as the sole cause of “sick building syndrome.”

“We consider a healthy building to be an agent of change for public health. And we know, through decades of research, that thoughtful and intentional strategies in design and operations make a healthy building,” says Unnikrishnan, “and healthy buildings help people strive.”

Most importantly, healthy buildings are people-centered spaces. “This means that the health and well-being of the people inside the building stays at the center of decision-making at all points,” says Unnikrishnan.

Connecting people and nature within a built environment via biophilic design can ease stress and reduce anxiety, according to WELL.

Unnikrishnan说，但是建筑物的运营与设计在保持空间健康方面同样重要。

空气质量就是一个例子。“建筑物中的良好空气净化功能可以治疗空气以满足已设定的标准。但是，如果这些功能不进行定期维护，则该建筑物实际上会损害人们的健康。”她解释说。“运营政策绝对是必不可少的，需要支持身心健康。”

俄勒冈大学建筑系的高性能环境实验室（HIPE）主任Ihab Elzeyadi说，最健康的建筑物是故意的。

他说：“设计中有很多事情需要尽早合并。”“例如自然通风。这个想法，如果您要拥有可操作的窗户或竖井，对建筑物的形式产生了重大影响。”

At Elzeyadi’s HiPE lab, proposed new standards to increase IEQ performance are tested and then results are published for broader review— and to influence client owners to adopt and implement improved and updated standards in their future building projects.

The standard development journey at HiPE lab is far from finished.

“我们正在不断测试这些标准，我们还提出了标准可能忽略的其他事情，” Elzeyadi说。尽管到目前为止的标准主要是关于舒适性和一些生理影响，例如心率和病假以及类似的担忧，但尚未纳入认知表现和压力。

But cognitive performance, stress reduction and everything related to stress recovery are, in Elzeyadi’s view, just as important to well-being in buildings. A better approach is to think about these issues at the beginning of the standard-writing process, including “what the current research findings are, what are the guidelines and what are the trends and evidence that need to be incorporated.”

他总结说，“我认为是主要差距”，在将研究应用于施工中的标准写作之间。