Healthy Buildings, a Webinar Report

Abstract

The need for a change in the built environment was stressed by the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with the effects of climate change (Emmanuel et al., 2020;Priyadarsini et al., 2020). According to EPA (2021), humans spend approximately 90% of their time indoors, and spatial qualities can affect physical and mental wellbeing. Therefore, health-related decisions are made in architectural, spatial, internal facilities, premise plumbing systems, and heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning design (Salonen et al., 2023). Hence, today it is common to speak about "healthy buildings," defined as "built structures that promote the positive well-being of individuals" (Awada et al., 2021).Despite the rapid need for architectural solutions during the pandemic, there was not much time for the valuable exchange of knowledge or validation from experts in various countries on this issue. However, architects are expected to implement design solutions for issues highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic that could not be addressed at that time (Emmanuel et al., 2020).Hence, the aim of this report is to summarize the key findings from the webinar on healthy buildings, which tackles design aspects driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, which are applicable to healthcare, educational, and commercial buildings in order to reach a larger audience who could benefit from them. The WebinarOn November 30, 2022, the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, organized a webinar to offer the students and faculty an opportunity to comprehend the latest design solutions to incorporate into their buildings for well-being. This webinar consisted of nine plenary sessions and a focus group.