Landscape Architect Articles

WELL"?uthe Latest in Building Standards 05-29-15 | News

WELL"?uthe Latest in Building Standards

The ASLA Board of Trustees has approved a plan to renovate its 20-year-old Washington, D.C. headquarters into a state-of-the-art Center for Landscape Architecture, aiming for LEED Platinum and WELL Silver certifications in that renovation. Placing a "sunbeamer" as a skylight in the roof will intensify and direct light all the way to the basement level. Rendering: Gensler (architecture, design, planning and consulting firm).

Last October, following the completion of comprehensive peer review, the International Well Building Institute (IWBI) released a new building rating system called WELL. WELL is the building certification initiative of Delos, which places the health and wellness of people at the center of design and construction decisions.

WELL is third-party certified (silver, gold, platinum) through IWBI's collaboration with Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI), which also administers LEED certification and the LEED professional credentialing program.

WELL incorporates best practices for the built environment based on medical and scientific research. WELL has seven standards, coupled with 122 features and 450 requirements:

air"?uWELL has strict air quality testing on the materials of all products used in buildings. According to Whitney Austin Grey, PhD, LEED AP, of the International Well Building Institute, of the 75,000 chemicals known to man, the EPA has only tested about 7,000 of them, and has found about 10 percent of them carcinogenic.

water"?uHeavy metals must be kept out of a building's water. For some buildings, that means redoing the pipes.

nourishment"?uCafeterias with healthy food front and center.

light"?uExposure to light is important for normal circadian rhythms issues.

fitness"?u"Choice architecture" forces people to circulate.

comfort"?uThis category ranges from acoustics to temperatures to ergonomics and even smell. mind"?uSpaces for respite and policies that improve productivity and improve wellness.

The ASLA has hired the architecture, design, planning and consulting firm Gensler to make their headquarters WELL. Architect Katie Mesia noted the biggest challenge for the retrofit is the low water standard in D.C., which, given the building's infrastructure, would require a new water filtration system to meet the WELL water standards.

On the ASLA donation page Mark Focht, FASLA, immediate past president of ASLA, reports the project is projected to cost $5.8 million. He specifies that at least $1.5 million will be raised in cash donations from the private sector. Pledges and donations received to date total $813,823, or bit more than 54 percent of the $1.5 million goal.