The All-Inclusive: Green Design for Human and Environmental Health - An Economic Model in Support of Sustainability

Nadine Bopp, USGBC, Board Member Chicago Chapter, Adjunct Assistant Professor, The School of the Art Institute, USA

The resort hotel industry employs the 'all-inclusive' marketing strategy to satisfy the needs of the consumer for a fixed fee. The client/user incurs no unplanned or hidden costs, thereby no dissatisfaction.

Green design is the 'All-Inclusive' paradigm that supports human and environmental health of cities and their inhabitants. The WHO defines health as complete physical, mental and social well-being, based on organisms that are balanced with regard to their chemical, biological, nutritional and psychological environment. Buildings are responsible for sickness caused by poor design and materials specification on a global scale. The case for green design is supported by examples where health is attained and costs are minimized.

Architecture is more than a structure or collection of structures. It is the sum total of all the materials, systems, energy and labor that goes into building. Everything is designed. Every artifact, object, mode of transportation, work of art or textile has been designed to fulfill a specific purpose in a specific place for a specific group. Each designed object has an impact on the culture, social organization, economic structure and physical environment of its place of origin to the end user.

The cost to the environment, human health and local economies is catastrophic. Efficiency and technology has led to the rapid depletion of the world's resources (non-renewables), the polluting of air and water, an increase in environmental health problems and an ever-increasing accumulation of hazardous and toxic waste. The replacement of green materials and systems for those that cause harm (non health) or those that fall out of the natural cycles can begin to mitigate previous damage.

An exploration of alternative materials and systems used in the design disciplines that promote human and environmental health will include:

Child health in homes and institutions, less respiratory illnesses
Enhanced learning ability in schools with higher test scores
Increased worker production and fewer absentee days
Enhanced healing from disease (in health facilities)
Lower insurance rates for building maintenance due to 'sick buildings'
Less occupant stress due to poor IAQ and lower employer insurance rates for health
Decreased energy costs for building operations, less local air, water pollution and less waste production
Less pollution of air and water in developing countries for manufacture of building and related materials
Decreased exploitation of non-renewable resources, more conservation and use of fast renewables and recyclyed content materials

Case studies supporting sustainable design and green materials abound and examples of built projects that quantify and qualify health will be presented.

Emphasis will be on commercial and public built projects with a discussion leading to methodologies employing green design to affordable housing on a global scale.

The wealthy nations are currently exporting conventional technology transfer that poses severe human and environmental degradation. Sustainable processes must be an underlying foundation to secure health on a global scale. Economics, or the bottom line, is the driving factor for the success and utilization of all new technologies. The theory of the 'all-inclusive' green economic model is the starting point.

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