The Green Building Diet Requires Active Design

Obesity. It’s quickly becoming one of the scariest mass media terms in our world today – and for good reason. According to Designed to Move, for the first time ever, a generation is expected to pass five years earlier than their predecessors. With more and more work being done by computer, it's been said that in terms of health hazards, sitting is the millennial generation's equivalent of smoking. But if our smartphones can get us access to everything at our fingertips, not require us to be chained to our desktops, perhaps a more active, mobile green building lifestyle is what's needed.

Architectural designers are going to great extent to incorporate technology into buildings and urban designs to make spaces more healthful – both for the environment and for inhabitants. So maybe greater emphasis should be placed on basic elements like stairs and bike paths.

Bloomberg's Active Design Push

Last year, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg caught a fair amount of flack for pushing the “active design” concept in the city’s building regulations (which can be viewed in the NYC Department of Design and Construction website). Many New Yorkers felt that Bloomberg was simply once again trying to figure out ways keep them from drinking Big Gulp sodas, and other bad foods, encroaching on their freedoms. But was it really such a bad idea?

Active design is meant to engage people with a physical space and entice them to really move. This means minimizing what LEED refers to as motorized vertical circulation (e.g., escalators and elevators), and instead making stairwells a central feature of buildings. Active design uses principles of signage, lighting and even auditory and visual enhancements to improve the likelihood of occupants opting for physical activity.

As an interesting example of active design, listen to architect Xavier Vilalta describe his eco-conscious, culturally sensitive shopping mall project in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Within LEED, design for active occupants also promotes onsite recreation space and even the provision of exercise equipment like treadmills and stationary bikes.

Interested in how active design can be applied to urban planning? Check out this TEDtalk from NYC Transportation Commission Janette Sadik-Khan instead or this fantastic Active by Design guide from the British Design Council.