Salutogenic Design
Salutogenic design is an evidence-based design strategy focused on enhancing human health and wellness. The way sustainable design looks at how a building impacts the outside environment, salutogenic design looks at how a building impacts its inhabitants: one looks outside, the other looks inside, but both strive to create healthy environments.
◆ Improve stress recovery rates
◆ Lower blood pressure
◆ Lower cortisol (stress) levels
◆ Improve cognitive functions and mental clarity
◆ Increase learning rates
◆ Induce calm
◆ Decrease violence and criminal activity
◆ Elevate moods
◆ Increase productivity
◆ Decrease anxiety
◆ Enhance mental stamina and focus
◆ Speed up illness recovery time
Stephanie Brick, WELL AP (#0000000823), is an expert on salutogenic design and implementation in the public sector. Ms. Brick blazed the trail for salutogenic design strategies across facilities with innovative, data-driven, human centered design solutions to improve health, well-being, productivity, wayfinding, inclusivity, and branding/identity. She has led multiple groundbreaking pilots, co-authored new building design guidelines, and is helping shift cultural awareness of facility impact on workforce well-being. As an accomplished public speaker, Ms. Brick has lectured on salutogenic design at all scales of platforms, from introductory office trainings to internationally broadcast forums.
For more information on salutogenic design, the following resources are recommended:
- The Washington Post: Salutogenic Design
- Improving Health in the Military and Beyond Using Salutogenic Design
- The Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA)
- WELL Building Standard - notably, the "Background" section of each "Concept" tab/chapter
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Website designed, developed, and maintained by Stephanie Brick Design.
Salutogenic (pronounced "sah-loo-toe-JEN-ick") design is at the intersection of architecture, psychology, and neuroscience. The phrase itself is derived from the medical term salutogenesis, which focuses on factors that support health and well-being rather than factors that cause disease. One of the leading strategies of implementing salutogenic design is through biophilic design, or designs that relate to nature.
Decades of scientific and medical research demonstrate the profound effects of the built environment on human psychology and physiology. Leveraging this research, salutogenic and biophilic design strategies have been proven to:
