The Impacts of the Building Environment on Health and Well-Being
A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Energy, Physics, Environment, and Systems".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 June 2015) | Viewed by 94753
Special Issue Editors
Interests: health and wellbeing; design and management of intelligent buildings; sustainable liveable buildings; environmental sensory design; creating productive and creative workplaces
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue of Buildings will examine how the built environment affects our well-being, and this in turn influences our work effectiveness in the workplace. Poor environments contribute to absenteeism and also to people not working as well as they might (which is referred to as presenteeism). Absenteeism and presenteeism produce enormous costs for companies. For example, in the UK, it is reckoned that good design could save approximately £135 bn per year through increases in health and well-being (which lead to increases in productivity and reduced medical costs). It has been shown that the economic costs in the UK of sickness, absence, and presenteeism are over £100 bn per year. The economic losses due to poor design not only lower productivity but also waste energy because designing for sustainability results in environments that are not only better in human terms, but which tend to be leaner in terms of energy consumption.
High quality environmental design is an investment, as occupants are healthier, staff retention rates are higher, productivity is higher, and sustainability ideals, such as lower energy consumption, are more likely to have been met in well-designed buildings. Fresh air at appropriate temperatures, daylight, views outside, color, acceptable sound levels, spatial arrangements, ergonomics, and greenery are all factors that contribute significantly to our mood and well-being in the workplace, but which also impact energy needs. Intelligent buildings need to bring together all these aspects into a holistic whole.
Recommendations will be made for the design of healthy, sustainable buildings.
Prof. Dr. Derek Clements-Croome
Ms. Ann Marie Aguilar
Ms. Mallory Taub
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- well-being
- health
- productivity
- built environment
- occupants hygrothermal performance
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