Strategies for Enhanced Indoor Air Quality

A more conscientious approach to building design highlights the critical role architects play in fostering wellness. As we consider post-pandemic living and working, the old standard of selecting the most cost effective or efficient systems are no longer the only considerations. “Now, there are more of us telecommuting and working remotely, which reduces the number of people on the floor. But you also need to create more space for those who are there. We need a variety of spaces, so I think we’ll start to see zoning come to the forefront. We are creating more options for working both inside and outside,” said Matt Petr, senior associate at Duda|Paine Architects.

There is now growing demand for strategies that facilitate non-viral environments, enhance air quality, and supplement whole-health building systems. “Architects, engineers, and developers have been really trying to push the building form to promote better indoor air quality, whether it is with new mechanical systems or fresh air solutions,” he added.

Petr and other experts recently shared their thoughts on the importance of greenery, improved ventilation, and bringing the outdoors to our interiors.

Connecting Indoor and Outdoor Space

The global headquarters for tech company NCR is an urban work hub in Atlanta, Georgia that  has attracted top talent since it was completed in 2018. Composed of two towers on a podium, the transparent glass façades reveal the activities on every floor to pedestrians passing by. The sequential experience for users is shaped by the entry hall, an amenity-rich sky garden, and versatile work spaces throughout. The seamless flow between interior and exterior allows employees and visitors to experience the vitality of the city. “The big picture idea was connectivity from indoor to outdoor. People have dining opportunities on the inside with direct visibility to the outside. There’s a covered outdoor work area for team meetings. Flexibility was driving the discussion early on about programming these types of spaces,” said Jay Smith, principal and design director, Duda|Paine Architects.

A street-level plaza featuring open seating, shade overhangs, and plantings allows the public to interact with the building. “We put in spaces that we felt were valuable and worthwhile, so that employees had a sense of arrival. There are welcoming, open areas where they can spread out, meet visitors, and do their work inside or out. These flexible spaces give people the opportunity to get fresh air, experience the outdoors, and be in larger areas that aren’t as confined as typical workspaces,” Smith added.

Private and Public Gathering Space

Completed in 2018, the Dillon is the first-mixed use development of its kind located in Raleigh, North Carolina’s warehouse district. The project includes an 18-story office tower with retail space, and two six-story apartment buildings with an adjoining parking deck. The building’s overall massing is punctuated by a “sky window” centered on its sloped façade. The design also focuses on the street-level experience by embracing the sidewalk and utilizing a historic warehouse wall to create a pocket park at the corner facing Union Station.

The Dillon features a large rooftop terrace on level nine. “The terrace can be used by the office tenants, and there’s a residential building right behind it that shares the terrace. The residents can come up after everybody has left for the evening and look at the city lights. The building management team can also rent it out for wedding receptions or other events. We created a kind of node in the middle of the building, which allows people to split the public and private functions. The private events can be held back in the office area, and the public events can be out on the terrace,” Petr noted.

 Zoning and Greenery

The focus continues to be on workplaces that integrate current thinking about flexibility, health, and advancing human connection. In their proposal for a tower at 50 Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard NE in Atlanta, dubbed FIFTY, Duda|Paine Architects showcases a workplace with an abundance of greenery. Planned amenities focus on health and wellness, with a fitness center, spa, and wellness facility. On the 35th and 45th floors, a park and sky garden would feature green living walls, operable floor-to-ceiling windows, and a rock-climbing wall 750 feet above the street grid.

The building is designed so that the outdoors can be accessed throughout the building, providing new alternatives for working and meeting. Users can go out of the building without ever having to interact with the rest of the floorplate, creating both public and private zones. This offers more control over air quality, temperature, and humidity levels for maximum employee comfort, no matter the season. Stanton Stafford, principal and business development lead for the US East at  green engineering firm Integral Group, has worked with the team at Duda|Paine Architects on a variety of projects. He explained that while for most people humidity can have a negative connotation, when harnessed correctly it can be beneficial to occupants.

“By introducing more greenery, you can control the low-end humidity in the space, which is something not typically done in office spaces. Having a green wall or greenery introduces more humidity that can help control the low end. It’s important to control this so that any airborne contaminant or virus has enough capacity to absorb moisture from the air and fall out of the airstream. With low humidity, a virus stays airborne longer—hours versus minutes. With higher humidity, it falls out and can be neutralized on a surface,” he said.