Archinect - News

Where the RIBA presidential candidates stand on key issues

2022-07-19T12:13:00-04:00

On July 26th, voting closes for the election of the next RIBA president. When the winner commences their two-year term as president on September 1st, 2023, they will be confronted with a list of burning issues across the UK’s architectural profession; and will be expected to publicly lead a response.

Some issues are specific to the UK context: a turbulent national political landscape, the soaring cost of indemnity insurance, and the implementation of new or upcoming UK laws on planning, construction, and emissions, to name a few. Other issues are specific to RIBA itself: an institution which has seemingly lurched from crisis to crisis in recent times, be it on accusations of inadequate diversity, election rule changes, or just this week, questions over a “buried” internal report on bullying.

These UK-specific issues aside, many of the challenges facing the UK professi...

New WELL Performance Rating aims to recognize smart, healthy buildings

2022-04-15T15:29:00-04:00

The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) has announced the launch of the WELL Performance Rating, a new rating that recognizes building owners and operators for achieving excellence in healthy building performance that enhances the well-being of their inhabitants.

The rating was developed in collaboration with industry leaders in smart building technologies and with input from IWBI Performance Advisory, WELL Performance Testing Organizations (PTOs), and WELL Enterprise Providers (EPs). It provides a roadmap for organizations to demonstrate excellence in occupant experience and building performance across key indoor environmental quality indicators related to air quality, water quality, thermal comfort, acoustics, and lighting.

With this rating, organizations can now gather intelligence to develop better business performance through the use of sensor networks, onsite tests, and surveys that assess employee perceptions of their health, well-being, and performance while in th...

Cities can make us happier, says UChicago study

2021-08-10T11:26:00-04:00

Researchers at the University of Chicago have released a new study examining the impact of cities on human wellbeing, concluding that the socio-economic networks and active environments of large urban areas in the U.S. can result in lower rates of psychological depression.

The findings are part of a broader research project that aims to quantify and map what it feels like to live in a city, building on previous research that showed how people’s use of a city’s infrastructure networks can lead to increases in social interaction, innovation, and wealth production. “We wondered if those same principles and mathematical models could be applied to psychological phenomena, such as depression, to see if the actual social and infrastructure networks of cities—and how they change as cities get larger—could affect people's psychology in a consistent way,” said Andrew Stier, one of the study’s authors.

Previously on Archinect: Architecture Community Experiences a Noticeable Impact on Mental...