Excerpt: "Understanding the effects of the built environment on our health is a complex business. Thorough research addressing questions such as “What is the best way to construct a house to reduce the stressful effects of noise exposure?” or “Which ventilation strategies both conserve energy and reduce exposure to potential allergens?” requires expertise from many scientific disciplines, including acoustics, architecture, biology, chemistry, engineering, epidemiology, geography, mathematics, medicine, physics, psychology, public health, and urban planning – and probably others as well. Although there exist international associations bringing together some of these disciplines, there has been no co-ordinated effort to bring together Canadian scientists to study these questions, across all building types, in the Canadian geographical and cultural context. Similarly, there are few examples of co-ordinated Canadian design guidelines, recommended practices, regulations, standards, or codes that address the full breadth of built environment effects on Canadian’s health and wellbeing.
Faced with requests for guidance on how to design, construct, operate, and maintain healthful indoor environments, the NRC Institute for Research in Construction (NRC-IRC) began in 2005 to develop the Canadian Building and Health Sciences Network (CBHSN). The network is intended to facilitate the development of collaborative teams that will conduct innovative, interdisciplinary research intended to improve the health of Canadians by improving the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the built environment."
RBc: We highly recommend our readers download and read the proceedings.
http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/obj/irc/doc/pubs/nrcc51222/nrcc51222.pdf
Other suggested readings:
Indoor Environmental Ergonomics
http://www.healthyheating.com/Human_Factors/Human_Factors.htm
Healthy Buildings Conference
http://www.healthyheating.com/IEQ_Radiant.htm
Alvar Aalto as a Healthy Building Architect
http://www.healthyheating.com/what_makes_a_good_%20architect.htm
