WELL Building Standard: M07 Restorative Spaces

Biofilico designs restorative spaces for the WELL Building Standard (MIND M07)

Introduction to Biofilico: WELL Building Consultants

Biofilico is a green building, health and wellness advisory based in Barcelona, Spain and London, UK. We offer creative design and consultancy services for mixed-use real estate developments and hospitality brands.

Our experience is in delivering small-scale projects independently as well as working within a team on larger buildings and master-planned communities. Our mission is to have a positive impact on People and Planet through the built environment. 

What is the WELL Building Standard?

Among many green building standards and certification systems, the WELL standard completely re-wrote the rulebook of human-centric green building certification, going further than both LEED and BREEAM in its quest to promote healthy buildings. As a result, it pairs well with LEED or BREEAM as it goes deep into the health aspects of a building rather than its environmental impact per se.

Credit categories cover air, water, nourishment, light, comfort, fitness, mind and innovation with WELL Associated Professionals (a.k.a “APs”) playing the role of project lead, ensuring that the stringent demands of the standard are successfully implemented while Performance Verification is completed by an authorized WELL Performance Testing Agent (a.k.a an Assessor).

What is WELL MIND M07 Restorative Spaces?

WELL are looking for restorative environments that promote mental wellbeing by reducing stress and mental fatigue. They reference workplaces primarily as this is where most of our mental challenges will take place in a typical day.

Recharge rooms are a response to the phenomenon of workplace tiredness and stress. Biofilico designed one for a project in Switzerland working for the Hero Group’s Chief People Officer, see our case study here.

Nature interaction has been shown to boost recovery and productivity, whether indoors through the use of biophilic design or outdoors with direct nature contact.

See our project video here:

Nature-based restorative Spaces with biophilia

We have also previously delivered a scientific research study into exactly these benefits of exposure to nature, or Vitamin Nature as it has been called. Another topic specifically references in WELL MIND M07.

This explainer video shows more about that restorative space project we created for residential real estate development The Wardian by Eco World Ballymore in London.

Our response to WELL MIND M07 Restorative Spaces

So having established Biofilico’s experience in delivering exactly the type of restorative space that the WELL certification is looking for, how do we typically approach a project for this WELL feature?

We start with a Discovery process that involves a project briefing, a number of stakeholder meetings, we review the overall project plan and any existing concept designs for the rest of the development, agree on the project’s wellness & sustainability goals, then finally review occupant / user profiles, or work with the project team to define these if not already available.

We then move into the Development phase in response to WELL MIND M07 Restorative Spaces. Having agreed on a suitable location, we propose various possible uses or functions for a WELL MIND Restorative Space.

Once agreed, we begin work on the layout and floor plan, identify suitable healthy building materials and start to incorporate those into a restorative space concept design integrating biophilia / nature and wellness design features that match the WELL Building Standard feature precisely.

Wellness design features for WELL MIND M07 Restorative Spaces

These include wellness lights, calming sounds, thermal comfort, seating, nature, colours & privacy.

Finally, we provide content for the required signage and/or educational materials that WELL look for in the finished restorative space to help communicate its many wellness design features.

Delivery

What details are important in this WELL Mind feature?

At least one designated restorative space needs to be made available for all regular occupants, whether indoor or outdoor, whether one space or multiple smaller spaces.

It needs to be designated for this purpose, or at least not also used for work at certain times of day. Its dimensions need to be minimum 75sq ft but ideally closer to 2000 sq ft is feasible.

Dimmable lighting, nature sounds, shade from direct sunlight, biophilia or nature incorporation, comfortable seating arrangements that encourage relaxation, we recommend a relaxing colour palette of natural hues and textures, combined with enough visual privacy to ensure that an occupant can make full use of the space without concern of colleagues looking on from outside.

Finally, all of this has to be verified by Technical Document for the WELL certification process.

To discuss Biofilico’s WELL building design and consultancy services, contact Matt here.