Page 55 - Green Builder July-August 2019 Issue

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IAQ: Breathe Easier The great indoors. A life-friendly residence hall, such as Saints

Residence at Maryville University in Saint Louis, promotes physical
activity and healthy habits by being designed with green materials and
Products, Research and Advice for Improving Indoor Air Quality building systems.

COURTESY OF KWK ARCHITECTS

CREDIT: A.J. MEXICO FLICKR what behavioral economists call “nudging,” or small pushes toward

changing behavior.
Next, furniture selection is integral to the built environment. It is “The average American spends
very important in residence halls to have variation in the furniture,
tables and chairs, soft seating, etc. This also includes active furniture up to 87 percent of their time
spread out in small meeting rooms, study rooms and lounges—all
Sometimes the message is a lot more direct. For example, at indoors, breathing filtered fresh
to create a more dynamic and active residence hall.

North Residence Hall at Indiana University–Purdue University
Indianapolis (IUPUI), KWK Architects designed a very open tness air, surrounded by products with
room integrated with the †oor that not only blends with the social
views of downtown Indianapolis. The design and location of the high levels of chemicals.”
functions of that community, but also takes advantage of expansive
room also allows other †oor residents to go to the top †oor and get
exercise in a relatively private manner. There are three major systems in place that help create an inventory
and screening of the major components of building materials that
Specifying healthy materials students are surrounded by—Health Product Declaration (HPD),
The use of healthy materials is very important in the construction Cradle-to-Cradle Products and Red List Products. All three systems are
of any residence hall, and it starts from day one—understanding used to identify and ensure compliance with LEED or Living Building
which materials will be selected for the design. Consumers are Challenge requirements, and help designers select materials that
used to seeing ingredient labels on the foods they purchase and contain minimum amounts of (or are void of) harmful materials. This
eat every day, so why not start doing the same thing for a building requires conversations with construction product manufacturers, as
that students will spend most of their time in on campus? it happened several years ago with the push for more recycled content

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