The objectives of sustainable design are broader than just environmental effects, having come to embrace issues of human health and performance. As sedentary and service-related work becomes more prevalent in our society, the amount of time people spend inside buildings increases—the average North American spends 90 percent of his or her time indoors, another 5 percent in cars and only 5 percent outside.
Photo: Richard Mandelkorn
This course highlights remarkable buildings where the use of wood as a structural or finish material has made a unique contribution, with a focus on indoor air quality, acoustics, physical health, and a natural, positive human response to wood that has always been intuitive, but is increasingly being proven by research and experience.
Learning Objectives
- Define the relationship between a building’s sustainability and the health and performance of the building’s occupants.
- Explore how wood was used to enhance the experience of building occupants in projects from around the country.
- Recognize how wood used as a structural and finish material contributes to key elements of occupant environment including indoor air quality, acoustic performance, and physical health.
- Examine evidence confirming the positive human response to wood for its aesthetic qualities and connection to nature.
