🏢Healthy building design starts with putting people first.

🏢Healthy building design starts with putting people first. Duh! But how? 🤷‍♂️


There is this common catchphrase when talking about health in buildings:
📣 "Put people first"

We've all heard and maybe said it ourselves. But what does that even mean for the design process when creating healthy spaces? Where to start?

In my previous role as an architect, I leaned on instinct, logical reasoning, and collective wisdom of a great team around me to get to solutions.
But starting as an independent consultant, I've recognized that the value I now bring to my clients (architects, developers, and building owners) is to guide them towards making informed choices themselves.

💡 This led me to explore new collaboration methods for a user-centric perspective. The following simple steps can be used in a session with your team to find the best points for healthy interventions by first understanding the user's experiences.

** 🗺 Mapping a day in the life of an occupant using User Story Maps 🗺 **

● Imagine a workday in the life of Anna, a senior developer, and Jake, an account manager (choose 'avatars' that represent common functions in the building). They both work in the same building but each have distinct daily routines and interactions with the space.

● Draw a user story map by tracing their daily journey and capture each touchpoint with the building. This is a fun activity to do with your team that spark a good discussion on real experiences in the building.

● Next, find the areas most impactful for the occupant's health.
Start with the positives: what areas are already working well?

● Then find the 'pain points' in the work day, areas where the experience is everything but smooth, moments that are connected to stress, or just areas that might have the biggest influence on the overall experience.

● For each of those moments define the challenge and frame it into an opportunity. You do that by writing it as a "How might we" question. So let's say the challenge was that Anna feels tired after lunch. This you could reframe as: How might we design a space or introduce elements that prevent the energy dip and rejuvenate and re-energize individuals after their meal?

A question like that moves away from focusing on the problem and towards a solution-oriented approach.

● With all the "How might we..." questions on the map we can now start thinking in solutions. The spirit at this stage should be that people leaving the building should feel better than when they arrived! This will lead to the bigger bolder ideas.

● After the big ideas are formed you can use the WELL Building Standard to inform the ideas with science-based interventions, and put concrete measurable targets. But this is for another post...


👋 Are you a building owner that wants to put people first? Let's chat if you want to know more or join me for a free Healthy Building Discovery Session!

#Healthybuildings #architecture #designthinking #Humancapital #realestate