WELL concept advisories: A year of impact
Our knowledgeable, creative WELL concept advisors are sparking conversations and shaping the healthy building industry.
When we launched the WELL v2™ pilot, we committed not only to the product’s release, but also to the continued exploration and thorough understanding of how our buildings and communities affect our health and well-being. The fulfillment of this commitment is possible thanks to the participation and dialogue within our community, and most recently, within our expanding network of WELL concept advisors.
One year ago, IWBI formed a global network of concept advisories to explore, better understand and ultimately, more accurately quantify the impact of design and policy interventions across the 10 WELL concepts. Each WELL concept advisor has specific expertise in one or more of the 10 WELL concepts: Air, Water, Nourishment, Light, Movement, Thermal Comfort, Sound, Materials, Mind, Community. Their collective knowledge facilitates dynamic contributions to health and wellness solutions, best practices for localization, informative case studies to fill research gaps and innovative topic areas.
In 2019, WELL concept advisors played a critical role in evolving WELL and shaping the industry through a vast web of expanded engagement, communications and publications. Over 110 individuals in 16 countries and 8 states participated in the inaugural advisories. Collectively, these advisors shared their input over the course of 60+ working group calls, contributed to the development of three beta features - S06ß Impact Noise Management, C17ß Housing Equity, W09ß On-Site Non-Potable Water Reuse - and influenced over 50 WELL updates by means of FAQs, glossary changes, alternative adherence paths, equivalencies and addenda changes. Additionally, advisors provided feedback on linkages between WELL v2 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, helping to demonstrate the integration of WELL into the global sustainability movement.
And that’s just some of their work behind the scenes. Our advisors led thoughtful conversations, inspired action and fostered awareness through published articles and research papers, and participated in industry events. The 2019 advisors contributed to numerous global discussions, including a meeting held by the Institute of Acoustics to cover the World Health Organization’s updated noise guidelines. Their leadership in education continued into Greenbuild 2019, with two advisor-led education sessions. Community advisor Victoria Lanteigne and Movement advisor Susan Chung led the session Building Equity: Advancing Social Inclusion through WELL alongside IWBI’s Community Concept Lead, Rose Winer. This packed session was received with much enthusiasm by the Greenbuild community! The second session, Turn Down the Volume, featured engaging an acoustics panel discussion with Sound advisor John LoVerde in which participants learned about how sound relates to health and productivity. In addition to Greenbuild, Mind advisors Tara Healey and Tyrone Yang, and WELL Faculty member Jennifer Taranto, presented on mental health in buildings alongside IWBI’s Mind Concept Lead, Emily Winer, at Architecture Expo Boston 2019.
Our advisors also put pen to paper, authoring thought-provoking content across various topics. They contributed ten articles to the WELL article hub, ranging from Mind advisor Tara Healy’s report on training your mind to work smarter to Nourishment advisor Megan Whelan’s insights into how changing your eating patterns can help combat climate change. The Movement advisory also contributed to the development of a new strategy for demonstrating leadership in active transportation by rewarding cycle-friendly projects. In addition, three research articles from Mind, Light and Sound advisors were published for academic publication. Notably, a white paper covering industry guidance on requirements for standardizing luminaire data sheets includes key input from two Light advisors, Ken Douglas and John Martin. Sound advisor Jack Harvie-Clark also contributed to the development of the first set of design guidelines that link thermal comfort to acoustics in residential communities.
All advisors are global leaders in human health and wellness who have embodied the depth and diversity of the WELL community, both personally and professionally. Looking forward, this meaningful engagement from our advisors is a testament to the expanding influence and traction of WELL globally. With these dedicated, empowered and creative teams of practitioners, advocates and experts, we are confident that our goal of improving quality of life through healthier buildings will continue to become a reality. As we prepare to graduate the WELL v2 pilot in 2020, our advisors will continue to play an instrumental role in reviewing proposed changes to the rating system. With their support and guidance, we look forward to sharing a more streamlined and unified WELL v2.
We look forward to welcoming a new cohort of advisors in 2020 who will continue to lead the WELL movement and elevate health and well-being across the globe. Stay tuned for more information about our 2020 concept advisors!
