Title: Enhancing Interior Environmental Quality
Course: WGF 105 DEVELOPMENT > Section: Content

Content | When constructing (operating) cost-effective buildings, it is easy to forget that the success or failure of a project may rest on (operating) its indoor environmental quality (IEQ). Healthy, comfortable employees are often more satisfied and productive. Unfortunately, this simple truth is often lost, for it is easier to focus on the first-cost of a project than it is to determine the value of increased user productivity and health. Facilities should be constructed with an appreciation of the importance of providing high-quality, interior environments for all users. As a species, we have progressed from an outdoor hunter-gatherer existence to one where 90% of the typical American's life is spent indoors. For many of us, we have evolved where the indoor realm is our natural environment. IEQ encompasses indoor air quality (IAQ), which focuses on airborne contaminants, as well as other health, safety, and comfort issues such as aesthetics, potable water surveillance, ergonomics, acoustics, lighting, and electromagnetic frequency levels. IEQ improvements to an existing building can occur at any point during the use of a building.
Attributions | Image courtesy of Sustainable Facilities Tool – U.S. General Services Administration Content courtesy of Whole Building Design Guide – National Institute of Building Sciences