Anil Ananthaswamy published a recent article in Knowable Magazine that analyzes how pathogens or viruses spread from place to place and from person to person. The first thing to know is that understanding the dynamics of fluids is crucial to understanding the transmission of disease. Air is a fluid: bacteria and viruses are carried by fluids. Lydia Bourouiba, fluid dynamicist from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has been researching for more than ten years how flu

Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand recently posted a research about the impact of learning environments on student performance. In the article, the concept of ‘better classrooms’ is described as “buildings where the indoor conditions promote the comfort, health and wellbeing of students and teachers.” One key insight is that student performance can completely change when the classroom conditions are not appropriate. Factors such as lighting, temperature, noise l

Basel, a city located in Switzerland has been featured by EuroNews Green as the ‘first city in the world’ to make green spaces and areas a legal requirement for any type of construction, especially new buildings. This effort wants to force city planners to start caring and taking into consideration biodiversity as a key part in design. “Basel’s city planning authority has made green roofs compulsory. This new requirement adds patches of green space which defuse humidity and h

ArchDaily narrates how a project called ‘Welcome, feeling at Work’ designed by Kengo Kuma & Associates with Europa Risorse is a recent trend when it comes to workplaces design and architecture. The project will take place in Milan, Italy and its development is scheduled for 2024. The biophilic office seeks to be a workspace centered around the integration of the local environment to the offices and by doing so, supporting employee health and wellbeing. “Biophilic architectur

People are returning to work at offices after the pandemic, but it is well-known that workers are looking for health conscious spaces. Axios News recently posted about a co-working space called The Ring located in Clearwater, California, whose ultimate goal is to become the ‘healthiest co-working space in the world”. “The co-working space is aiming to get a WELL Certification, a relatively new standard that certifies buildings for prioritizing occupants' well-being through co

Wildfires continue to leave significant problems for the west coast. Yesterday, NBC Bay Area reported that Willow Wildfire, which started on june 17th, has burned about 2,400 acres in the area of Los Padres National Forest. This has meant important problems regarding Bay Area air quality. “A wildfire that forced the evacuation of a campground and Buddhist retreat center has burned more than 3.2 square miles of dry brush in inaccessible terrain on California's central coast, o

The return to classes after a year of isolation has forced school districts to rethink how to re-adapt learning environments and make them safer. The biggest challenge is to diminish the risk for virus transmission. Building, Design and Construction Magazine published a recent article that analyzes this reality in Los Angeles, California. “To that end, the Los Angeles County Office of Education has published a 53-page report that provides K-12 schools with Design Guidelines f

BMJ Medical Journal released a paper called ‘City design for health and resilience in hot and dry climates’. The work analyzesthe challenges of designing healthy places in cities that have hot and dry climates, and the possible solutions to those challenges. “The health of people living in cities is affected by urban design elements including density, distribution of land use, building design, transport infrastructure, green spaces, opportunities for social interaction, and

StreetsBlog Usa launched a recent podcast in which two important experts talked about Inclusive Healthy Places Framework, a project that seeks to start creating inclusive healthy places for the community. Sharon Roerty, Senior Program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Maki Kawaguchi, Director at Gehl Studios, talked about how to create spaces that bring dignity to every user and the importance of creating a data-driven and people-driven approach when it come

In a recent article of Architectural Digest magazine various experts were asked about the new trends in design of spaces relating to mental and physical health. Designers need to be constantly evolving their designs with changing trends, including the pandemic, where safety and wellness is very important. Here are 3 trends for ‘wellness spaces’ in 2021 mentioned by Shelly Lynch-Sparks of Hyphen & Co, Jo Littlefair of Goddard Littlefair, Shalini Misra and Veronica Schreibeis-

Health guidelines to minimize the spread of Covid 19 are challenging the way we see and use public spaces. Wearing a mask and washing your hands are the easy ways to prevent it. But when it comes to other measures like keeping six feet apart from others it can be difficult to achieve if public spaces only have a four foot standard sidewalk, for instance. Also, avoiding surface contact is not easy when to cross a pedestrian crosswalk requires someone to push a button to cross.

“Space changes behavior. Real estate is not about location, location, location. It’s about people, people, people.” Besides its beauty, Atlanta is one of the leading cities to think about architecture and spaces based on well-being. “We can be the center of the healthy and sustainable building movement. Just like Chicago became the city of the skyscraper, so Atlanta can become the center of green architecture”, said Liz York, senior advisor for buildings and facilities, strat

We spend more than 90% of our days indoors but we have very little information on the health of those indoor spaces. That's why in 2017 we worked with a Bay area school to measure the health and energy performance of one of their newest buildings on campus. We installed a range of sensors in 8 classrooms to measure environmental variables such as: CO2 Concentration Levels (~ air quality) Air Temperature & Humidity (~ thermal quality) Decibel Levels (~ auditory quality) Lighti

The New York Times has been running some really cool science stories this year, and a recent one on the benefits of fresh air ventilation in classrooms got their Virtual Reality (VR) treatment! Check it out here Scroll to the bottom and you'll see a QR code to try out. At MKThink, we're constantly measuring our environments to understand how they affect our behaviors and performance. We're both conducting our own research and leveraging the very good research being done aroun

Once upon a time, there was a pandemic, and the children stayed inside. With stay-at-home orders and school closures, contemporary childhood is not the same. Playgrounds are taped off, and many parks around the country are closed. Coronavirus is a generation-defining moment, and experts are already considering the term “Gen C” for those born during this time. Schools are adapting to parameters like social distancing, as set forth by the Center for Disease Control and Preventi

Pleased to highlight this informative article from The Atlantic, written by Aaron E. Carroll, Professor of Pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine. Prepared by a teaching physician, the piece highlights positive outcomes achieved through a combination of applying scientific knowledge and thoughtful planning, procedures, infrastructure redeployment, and proximity detection. Most importantly, it speaks to applying learnings to continually improve the health of the c

ECCL was awarded the 2017-2018 ULI Global Award for Excellence Winner. Emeryville Center of Community Life (ECCL) consolidates Emeryville California's schools with community and family services, arts and recreation into one site, one locus of vision for a healthier community. It is a place of synergies and rich community connections, the kind that make communities vibrant, connected and healthy. Here the community welcome center and senior lounge, at times hosts community eve

Hillbrook School was founded in 1933 on the belief that the environment rather than genetics raises the child. While working on a campus strategy and masterplan effort, MKThink engaged the school community in exploring healthy outdoor learning potential to reinforce the school’s pedagogy, while helping keep the school’s heavily regulated footprint from growing. In collaboration with our team, the school implemented multiple tactical outdoor projects, including: - a new outdoo

Sample image of the AirAngel dashboard shows the “target” condition in green (healthy for everyone), “boundary” condition in yellow (sensitive populations are more likely to feel discomfort) and “amiss” condition in red (exertion and prolonged exposure will cause significant discomfort). Indoor and outdoor environments are being measured at select locations. Chief Operating Officer at the Y of San Francisco Jamie Bruning-Miles faced a major challenge during the wildfire seaso

When North Monterey County Unified School District (NMCUSD) was forced to suspend its in-person learning along with the rest of the California in the Spring of 2020, 4,765 students, the kids of migrant workers, 38% of them homeless and foster youth, were suddenly cut off from school and the essential services they relied upon for their daily survival -- access to breakfast and lunch, family services, internet, or just a place to stay during the day. Understaffed and overwhel