HDR has signed a strategic alliance agreement with Delos to advance health and wellness innovations and outcomes-driven design in the built environment. The organizations have agreed to collaborate toward applied research and further development of strategies to integrate wellness as a primary goal in built environment design.
The HDR and Delos alliance aims to develop practical methodologies to integrate health and wellness goals early in the design process, and to measure results over time to inform ongoing improvement. Initial design areas of focus will include access to daylight, acoustical environment, access to views, and impacts of spatial decisions on workplace outcomes including collaboration and productivity. Delos is the pioneer of the WELL Building Standard, which is administered by its subsidiary the International Well Building Institute (IWBI).
“This alliance continues our commitment to elevating human-centered strategies and incorporating them early in the design process, which underscores our belief that sustainability is about changing values, culture and processes,” says Colin Rohlfing, HDR Director of Sustainable Development, Architecture. “We believe that architects and designers play critical roles as practitioners of wellness, and that the research that comes from this alliance will provide important metrics to demonstrate the positive outcomes that designing for wellness can have on building occupants.”
Delos founder and CEO Paul Scialla says, “HDR, already deeply invested in research which seeks to codify the impacts of healthy building design on occupant heath and performance, is an obvious and exciting partner for us. We look forward to joining forces with their offices around the world to accelerate the adoption of healthy, well buildings.”
Rohlfing added that the agreement further strengthens its previous commitments, including endorsing the Architecture 2030 Challenge to achieve reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and endorsing the use of the Health Product Declaration Open Standard, which requires manufacturers to adhere to transparency guidelines regarding the chemical composition of the products they supply.