20+ years out... What critical environments and the world’s healthiest, most sustainable buildings have taught us about ventilation By Dan Diehl
I
t has been a year since the pandemic changed our lives. Many say that the ways we work and learn in buildings have
changed forever. Someone asked me recently what this experience has taught me about making buildings safe to reoccupy. I quickly answered, but then I realized it wasn’t the right question. The urgent need to make buildings safer has led to a range of improvised solutions, some of which are beneficial, but not sustainable; others not proven to be effective, but allow building owners to demonstrate they at least must do something. I realized that to chart a path forward, we needed to tap a much longer and more telling history of data and learning—one that was hiding in plain sight. So, after a week or reflection, I should have responded: “Do you mean, ‘What we have learned over the last 20 years about the importance of ventilation in healthy and sustainable buildings?’” We could go back further to examine lessons learned regarding efficiency in buildings, which has been a focus since the 1970s. But the core built-environment challenge for the post-COVID world is how to balance healthy building design and operation with efficiency and sustainability.
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COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION & RENOVATION — ISSUE 7, 2021
