A recent study by the Environmental Protection Agency found that the average American spends 93 percent of their life indoors – 87 percent being inside buildings and the other 6 percent inside automobiles. With more time spent inside buildings and public facilities, including when traveling across the country or around the world, airport designers are looking for new ways to improve the passenger experience and quality of life inside airport terminals, parking structures and related facilities.
This is where the WELL Building Standard is being applied. While LEED certification awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council has for years been the standard for designing and constructing sustainable, efficient buildings, it is the newer WELL Building Standard that has become the barometer for healthy indoor working and living environments.
Launched in 2014 by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), the WELL Building Standard is a global rating system focused exclusively on the way buildings and everything inside them affects the quality of life for the occupants. It is a performance-based system for measuring, certifying, and monitoring features of the built environment that impact human health and wellbeing.
WELL is focused exclusively on the ways that buildings and communities, and everything in them, can improve comfort, drive better choices, and generally enhance, not compromise, the health and wellness of those who pass through or work in the spaces. Healthy design practices focus on quality indoor air, natural light and sound, and ways to create a more calming and less stressful environment for visitors, travelers and workers.
The standard was developed over six years by carefully studying and integrating the environmental health and behavioral factors that affect health, and the leading practices in building design, construction and management. According to IWBI, 3,936 projects encompassing over 490 million square feet are applying WELL across 58 countries.
Because the WELL Building Standard focuses on building occupants, airports, which collectively have millions of daily visitors are perfect places to employ WELL design and seek certification. To meet current and future travel forecasts, airport designers are constantly trying to improve the overall passenger experience.
The WELL Building Standard is relatively new to airports, so IWBI is currently developing a pilot program that will create a rating system that falls within the standard that is specific to airports. To help monitor the program there will be officials known as Well Building assessors who will visit each project and test it to confirm that it is meeting the various Well Building Standards.
WELL features that apply to airports must address complexity, size, and variety and volume of users that frequent the environment. The process will be similar to that of LEED Certification.
So why should airports be concerned with WELL Building Standards when there is already LEED Certification? One reason is because many airports are like communities and if designers can make passengers or “residents” of these communities healthier and happier then airlines and owners will also benefit.
We all know that air travel can be stressful, so an architect using and leveraging the WELL standard can help influence design, and a more positive experience for travelers such as developing quiet and restorative spaces with ambient noise in and around terminals, promoting healthy food options and vending machines, and using natural light sources. WELL design takes a more holistic approach to the passenger experience.
As an industry, designers, engineers, builders and owners have always been looking at new ways to utilize healthy building materials in their projects, and WELL helps us take a step back and look at the individual passenger journey and how it can be enhanced. It helps us dig deeper into the traveler’s experience and make it as enjoyable as possible.
The WELL Sound concept looks to improve the health and well-being of occupants by monitoring and improving acoustical comfort. Only recently have the effects of noise on health been studied in-depth. Sources such as traffic and transportation have been found to negatively affect sleep, increase hypertension and cause mental lethargy.
An example of designers working to positively influence the sound experience for passengers can be found on the $1.5 billion concourse expansion Project at Denver International Airport, which broke ground in 2018. HNTB has incorporated fritted glass to comfortably fill large areas with natural light, alternative furniture layouts that create spaces away from the main circulation where passengers can escape the hustle between flights in multiple locations so passengers of all carriers have access and outdoor patios, where passengers can experience the great outdoors of Colorado.
The WELL Light concept focuses on creating lighting environments that are optimal for visual, mental and biological health. Studies are being conducted on the effects of indoor lighting and glare on passengers. Airport designers are looking for ways to minimize visual discomfort caused by glare from daylight and electric light; enhanced daylight access to support circadian and psychological health through indoor daylight exposure and outdoor views; and personalized lighting that allows individuals to control and customize the lighting environments to their requirements.
As the IWBI and other organizations continue to study the relationship between human health and the built environment, more and more airports will begin to add the WELL Building Standard to their portfolio for new projects and renovations. Designers will remain on the forefront and continue to deliver innovative solutions that meet the needs of travelers and airports.
Jena Hall, AIA, LEED AP BD+C and Frannie Robinson, AIA, NCARB are project architects with HNTB. Both have experience in schematic design, design development, documentation and construction administration for a variety of aviation projects at major airports, including Denver and Orlando.
