Designing for Health with the WELL Building Standard

Architects-In-Training Ledia Durmishaj and Samantha Wai provide a behind the scenes look into the design of Gresham, Smith & Partners (GS&P). Located on the top floor of One Enterprise Center, GS&P may be one of downtown Jacksonville's most impressive office spaces.

FITNESS

WELL Standard: With benchmarks that encourage the integration of physical activity into daily life, the standard promotes more active, healthier lifestyles.

Our space: Thanks to its downtown location, our new office encourages employees to walk to nearby Hemming Plaza and other places for lunch and allows many to leave their cars at home and walk or bike to work. Every workstation also has power-assisted, height-adjustable chairs and desks to allow for sit-stand working and increase physical movement during the day.

Picture taken by Mayur Patel: New urban core location offers greater walkability

AIR

WELL Standard: Guidelines for reducing or minimizing indoor air pollution and contaminants support the health and wellbeing of building occupants by improving indoor air quality.

Our space: The air fed through our ventilation system is filtered with moisture control. Considering the potential for heat gain in the space (both actual and perceived), much consideration was given to occupants’ thermal comfort. The design team worked with GS&P mechanical engineers to develop an inconspicuous schematic solution using high-velocity nozzles that distribute air from the building core over the open work spaces. While two thirds of the heat load is addressed through the central HVAC system, the remainder of the space is served by a perimeter loop of units that provide localized heating and cooling adjustments.

WATER

WELL Standard: Requiring proper filtration techniques and regular testing helps ensure building occupants receive safe and clean water of optimal quality.

Our space: Our office’s water supply is filtered to reduce the count of harmful biological contaminants, metals, minerals and disinfection byproducts.

NOURISHMENT

WELL Standard: Better eating habits and food culture are encouraged by providing fresh, wholesome food choices and discouraging the use of unhealthy ingredients.

Our space: Healthy food is regularly provided to staff in the break room, which also includes sanitary food prep areas with all the necessary supplies.

While we realize that our space fulfills some categories more than others, this standard became a great guideline for us to be able to step back and see how we could take it further with the next project. Since the Jacksonville staff moved into our new office a little over eight months ago, it has proven to be a more comfortable, healthier, enjoyable and productive work environment than our previous location. While the project team did not intentionally aim for the WELL Building Standard, GS&P has consistently sought to design buildings that cater to the comfort and health of their occupants while functioning as collaborative, productive and flexible spaces for the people who work there.

We’re happy to see that our firm’s design principles align with the latest thinking in design for health and wellbeing. The team designing the new office for GS&P’s Nashville staff is following a similar path by looking at the Fitwel program, which focuses on healthy workplace design. We hope programs like the WELL Building Standard and Fitwel become guides for all GS&P offices to continue to refine their occupant-focused designs for healthier spaces.

We love showing off the new Jacksonville office, so please give us a shout if you’d like to stop by for a visit!

View of main conference room from lobby entranceView of main conference room from lobby entrance

You can read more about the WELL Building Standard at the following links: https://www.wellcertified.com/ https://www.usgbc.org/articles/what-well

Article by Ledia Durmishaj and Samantha Wai. This originally appeared on the Gresham, Smith & Partners website .