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The Office of Federal High-Performance Buildings’ Wellbuilt for Wellbeing research project was designed to help GSA better understand the influence of the office environment on human health, comfort and performance. Our findings are influencing the way GSA approaches the design and operation of work spaces and will inform the future design of federal buildings. Since we spend 90% of our time indoors this perspective is critical.
Wellbuilt for Wellbeing builds on prior GSA-sponsored research which found that employees working in a newly renovated section of a federal office building had lower physiological stress response (as measured by wearable sensors) than a similar group working in an unrenovated space. Improvements in sound, daylight, and window views correlated with reduced stress, but the research could not determine the relative importance of these factors or other unmeasured aspects of the space. Significant advancements in real-time sensing technology paved the way for Wellbuilt for Wellbeing by enabling the collection of accurate, simultaneous measures of employee physiological health outcomes, psychological wellbeing, and environmental conditions.
Wellbuilt for Wellbeing used a “discovery method” to explore potential interactions between human health and the widest range of indoor environmental factors ever captured in the field in real time. Our interdisciplinary team used innovative sensing technologies, including wearable devices, to measure human health outcomes and environmental conditions in real time as employees went about their normal work. We then used advanced analytic methods to identify environmental levers (office layout, humidity, sound and CO2 levels) that might reduce stress, improve sleep and increase physical activity. We did not limit ourselves to testing a single hypothesis but kept our eyes open for any possible relationships.
Break up your day with “micro-breaks!”
Stay hydrated!
Make comfort personal, it is not one-size-fits-all!
While the discovery method allowed our team to be open to unexpected connections between the indoor environment and health, we do not offer our findings as definitive proof. They suggest areas for further study that have a significant likelihood of improving human health through the built environment. The Wellbuilt for Wellbeing Project Team will continue to develop ours and other research findings going forward.
This project was a collaboration between the U.S. General Services Administration, the University of Arizona, the Baylor College of Medicine, and Aclima Inc. The Wellbuilt for Wellbeing Project Team include: Kevin Kampschroer, Judith Heerwagen and Brian Gilligan of GSA. Esther Sternberg, Perry Skeath, Casey Lindberg, and Matthias Mehlof the University of Arizona Institute on Place, Wellbeing and Performance. Bijan Najafi, Javad Razjouyan, Hyoki Lee, and Hung Nguyen of the Baylor College of Medicine Interdisciplinary Consortium on Advanced Motion Performance. Sudha Ram, Faiz Curim and Karthik Srinivasian of the University of Arizona INSITE Center for Business Intelligence and Analytics. Kelli Canada of LMI Priya Saha, Rebecca Goldfinger-Fein, Alicia Darbishire, and Mills Wallace of the Federal Occupational Health Service. Davida Herzl, Reuben Herzl, Melissa Lunden, Nicole Goebel, and Scott Andrews of Aclima Inc.
In addition, numerous contributors have provided input as acknowledged in our journal articles. Special thanks are given to all the federal workers who accepted to be volunteers for the purpose of this study. None of the volunteers received funding or other compensation for participation in this study. The Wellbuilt for Wellbeing Project Team wish to thank the following individuals for providing advice on our findings and potential confounds: Ed Ahrens, Seema Bhangar, Alyse Falconer, Traci Hanegan,Mark Hydeman, Kevin Hydes, Vivian Loftness, Melissa Lunden, Piers McNaughton, Forrest Meggers, Gwelen Paliaga, Jovan Pantelic, Chris Pyke, Stephanie Taylor, and Steven Taylor.
U.S. General Services Administration