"Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social
well being and not merely an absence of disease or infirmity".
YOUR HEALTH AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT:
Its principle concern is the balance between nature, the built world and man. More precisely,
it examines the interaction between all living things, their natural and built environments,
particularly the impact of buildings on the health and well being of people.
Building Biology stives to holistically integrate human constructions
with ecology and in this respect it sits within a Gaian sensibility of all life being in a symbiotic
relationship with the Earth: a series of feedbacks and flows of a self regulating eco-system.
Building Biology springs from a positive conviction of this integration of
building, environment and man. However, out of this comes a critique of the standards of the present day building
industry which remains formidable: a catalogue of illness and poor health derived from building materials and constructional
processes which are out of tune with our biological and psychological well being:
We so often live and work in buildings containing plastics, toxic treated timber, toxic paints and glues,
air that is too dry or too damp, poor ventilation and within an electric stress climate.
As a result indoor environments are created where the pollution levels are 20 times more toxic than
outdoors leading to allergies, headaches, sick building syndromes and even cancers.
The use of natural and preferably local materials i.e. materials with little man
made alteration to their natural state like timber, hemp blocks, earth walls and sheeps wool. This has much
to do with the low level of embodied energy involved in their manufacture but also in the inherent
qualities of natural materials.
Consideration should be given to colour, harmony and proportion in form and space. An understanding
of proportioning systems and mans relationship with them is important in design and, when so much of
green architecture is to do with building envelope, it is more important to remember that joy in form
and space are equal concerns.
Finally, building biology looks at sustainable community structures, based on the above principles
transposed to larger scale. It champions eco-villages as potential self-regulating eco-systems benefiting
from the economies of scale that a community can offer without so many of the disadvantages that cities
can bring with them.
The use of renewable energy sources, of waste recycling including composting and reed bed systems are all
investigated with the intent of achieving a holistic integration of man and environment.
We on average spend up to 90% of our time in doors! Those of us that
work in stress inducing environments should atleast be able to enjoy the home as a healthy
and restorative refuge.
