According to Bokalders and Block (2009) some people spend more than 90 percent of their live indoors. This represents that those who live or work in buildings may be significantly influenced by them. Materials which are utilized in the erection of buildings, also interior design of buildings, providing clean air and intensive light are important issues to be taken into account, because their quality has considerable impact on residents. Rostron (2008) claims that adverse effect of a building can cause a considerable implication for society: many of those who suffered from ‘sick buildings’ have complained that their productivity had reduced by 20 percent. Thus, in order to construct healthy buildings without any unfavorable effect on occupants, complex issues should be taken into consideration. The aim of this paper is to identify how buildings can affect physical and mental health and to find solutions which can create better conditions for living and working in. Firstly, this paper will unfold the causes of bad welfare of occupants and what harm buildings are able to do to people’s health in general, then implication for society will be mentioned. After that some possible solutions will be suggested and evaluated in terms of effectiveness, cost and availability. Constructing a building is challenging issue which requires many problems to be solved and much decision to be taken. Maintaining the balance between architectural design, engineering design and interior in general is not an easy task. In addition, providing healthy indoor environment to the occupants that enhances their physical and mental well-being should be prioritized. Reinhold, Afshari and Gunnarsen (2005, 29) state there are variety of factors in the indoor envir... ... middle of paper ... ...the loss of sleep, which then outcomes as a poor physical and mental health (Åkerstedt and Nilsson 2003, 6-12) Interior Restorative environment It is believed that nature has a restorative effect on stress. According to Ulrich (1984) patients after surgery quickly become better if their windows viewed the landscape rather than buildings. In addition, it was found that pictures of nature may have effective restoration on patients than images of urban sites (Ulrich et al., 1991). Ulrich (1991) reported that the patients who were designated an image with the view of nature demonstrated less nervousness; also demand for anodyne in comparison with a control group has reduced. Moreover, at Conquest Hospital in East Sussex art sessions for stroke patients have been maintained and it has been noted that visual art assists in relieving the pain both mental and physical.
Chronic sleep loss is becoming more common in modern culture and less restricted to sleep-deprived diseases such as insomnia. Suggested to be the result of a number car, industrial, medical, and other occupational accidents, sleep deprivation is beginning to be recognized as a public concern. As a result, the Centers for Disease Control
...ny new problem he or she may notice in the body. If people choose to ignore problems like sleep deprivation, then it will eventually cause bigger problems and lead to more serious issues. Researchers will continue studies and hopefully come up with the answers many people are asking.
According to Wilson (2005), sleep deprivation can cause not only traffic accidents, but also medical conditions such as: obesity, type 2 diabetes, metabo...
...plications affecting efficiency. More focus is necessary on the indoor environment in schools, day care centres, hospitals and nursing homes for elderly, because children, hospital patients and elderly are sensitive subgroups. There are a number of indications that the indoor environment at home is normally worse than in the indoor office environment. The population spends most time at home, and children are exposed at home for many years (National Safety Council, 2009). This suggests that improvements of the home environment may be a cost-effective to reduce the indoor exposure burden in the population. The link between indoor and outdoor air pollution should not be ignored, as most of the exposure to outdoor pollutants occurs indoors. Finally, the function of energy saving and climate changes for the indoor environment and SBS will be an important future issue.
My paper is based on an article from the text’s web site (chapter 9) entitled “Lack of sleep ages body’s systems.” The basic claim of the article is that sleep deprivation has various harmful effects on the body. The reported effects include decreased ability to metabolize glucose (similar to what occurs in diabetes) and increased levels of cortisol (a stress hormone involved in memory and regulation of blood sugar levels). The article also briefly alludes (in the quote at the bottom of page 1) to unspecified changes in brain and immune functioning with sleep deprivation.
Throughout the history of Architecture, improvements of the structure and make up of houses and buildings have ameliorated immensely since the times of the Stone Age. Buildings have become complicated structures which are made of much more than just stone and clay. Amongst the implementation of humans and our discovering of new resources, we have created such instances where we pollute ourselves and the air around us. With some of these resources in which we use in housing, such as vinyl, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and poor ventilation within the house; these toxic chemicals can lead to an illness called Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) which is an enormous problem to sickness within
After several years of use and abuse of natural resources, humanity begins to awaken from its stunned by the advances of technology, to understand the magnitude of the impact caused by its presence in the environment. At present, trends in various aspects of human activity seek to achieve a harmonious relationship with nature; one of them is the practice of interior design. The main reason because the construction industry, in particular, has incorporated especially such attention, is the result that it has proved to be one of the main sources of pollution in water, air, and noise
In these recent years indoor air quality (IAQ) has gained excessive attention. The main reason is we spend a significant amount of time indoors in modern times. Urban people spend on average 87% indoors and only 6% outdoors. We also believe that the indoor environment is better and more livable than the outdoors. We also believe indoor air is cleaner, more relaxed and healthier and the building will shelter us from harmful substances in the ambient environment. For this reason a number of air quality indication systems in the world, which are designed for outdoor use also, gives warnings or advice during episodes of poor air quality, to stay indoors. Yet, the important question is: Is indoor air actually cleaner? Is it cleared of outdoor pollutants?...
Defects are the common phenomena to a building which include any impact that reduces the value of the building. Some of the common building defects are cracks, faulty electrical wiring and lighting, faulty plumbing, leaking due to poor drainage system, poor ventilation, and biological attack. (N.Ahzahar, Karim, Hassan, & J.Eman, 2011) In 2015, a Singaporean made a music video to express his unhappiness toward the rise in complaints on defects in Singapore’s flats which has made public more concern on the quality of the buildings. (The Star Online, 2015) Although the number of new building keeps increasing, but the issues of building quality is the one that public concern to.
Sleep and Sleep Disorders. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 July 2013. Web. 7 May 2014. .
Ulrich, Roger S. Effects of Interior Design on Wellness. 2007. Online. 16 Jan. 2014. .
Interior design is one of the most important professions. When thinking of design and architecture industry, it is necessary to keep in mind that the professionals emphasis on matters of everyday life when commencing a project. Important sectors of interior design consist of: residential, commercial, hospitality, healthcare, education and corporate designs. Thus, the field deals with numerous factors and affects almost everyone in some way. Design is goal-oriented– it strives to achieve a certain purpose. An essential goal of interior design is to create functional spaces that convey a specific mood for an audience using design elements, thus outlining a design for communities versus individuals.
Despite the fact that novel technologies are continuously under development to complement existing practices in coming up with greener buildings, the universal intent is that such structures are designed to diminish the general effect on the built environment on health of the humans in addition to the natural environment via: Diminishing environmental degradation, pollution and waste, improving productivity of the employee and guarding occupant health, efficient usage of water, energy, in addition to other resources.
Feature, Michael. "Chronic Sleep Deprivation and Health Effects." WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014. .
Wells, M., & Vaughn, B. V. (2012). Poor Sleep Challenging the Health of a Nation. Neurodiagnostic Journal,52(3), 233-249.