Widening the scope of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) to examine how it can include larger-scale initiatives could start to shape the future of design practice. According to prof. Ellen Dunham-Jones, “Architects have a tendency to think their job is the building while stormwater is the engineer’s problem or that anything to do with the site is for the landscape architect. That compartmentalization ignores how interdependent all of these things are.” Architects and designers can start addressing a community’s transportation issues, outdoor space usage, and mental and physical health concerns in their own process to begin strategically engaging IEQ solutions. “We’re beginning to see and understand that there are opportunities to increase wellbeing through design,” Dunham-Jones says. “That’s incredibly empowering.”
