human health in the built environment...• derrv, kellert sr. 2013. making children’s...

www.innorenew.euInnoRenew CoEInnoRenew CoE

Livade 6, 6310 Izola/Isola, Slovenia, T: +386 40 282 944, E: [email protected], www.innorenew.eu

Perspectives on wood, key research areas, and interdisciplinary approaches

Human health in the built environment

Michael Burnard Deputy Director, InnoRenew CoEAssistant Professor, University of [email protected]+386 (0) 31 427 672

Drivers for Wood Construction24 & 25 September 2019

Joensuu, Finland

Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union; H2020 WIDESPREAD-2-Teaming: #739574

mailto:[email protected]

www.innorenew.euInnoRenew CoE

Why buildings and wood?

… and health?


Urbanisation. Sustainability. Changing demographics.


We will build 1 New York City worth of buildings each month until 2050Massive material, energy, and carbon impacts…

Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union; H2020 WIDESPREAD-2-Teaming: #739574 4

URBANISATION


Sustainability

• Carbon neutral?• Restorative?• Regenerative?



Demographics

• Ageing society

by 2050 population over 65 years to increase by 70% and over 80 by

170 %


Buildings must be adapted (adaptable?) to support older adults.


Solutions to these issues are inseparable.

All impact the health and wellbeing of occupants.


We have a problem with buildings…

• Clear association between buildings, urban environments, and health

• More time in urban environments• People spend most of their time

indoors



Health impacts in buildings• Environmental

quality• Stress (work,

social, etc.)• Sedentary

behavior & activity• Accessibility, etc.


Nature is important…

• Evidence of connection between human health & exposure to nature

• Sustainability• Social wellbeing• Economics



Finding a solution• Connect people with nature where they are most


Is this enough?


Wood and Human health


Stress

• Stress is a public health concern• Physiological responses

to stressors can have long-term damaging health effects• Work stress is a key

contributor to chronic stress

McEwan, 1998



Restoration, Recovery

• Recover a depleted resource• Ability to focus

attention• Physical recovery?• Stress is a useful

indicator and serious health problem.



What is restoration?

• The relationship between restoration and nature is theoretically grounded in environmental psychology

• The concept of restoration is important... restoration is:

a process of renewal that replenishes a depleted social, psychological, or physical resource (Hartig, 2004)


Stress & Restoration• People are known to recover from

stress more quickly in natureTyrväinen et al., 2014


• But… people spend 80-90 % of their time indoors, separated from nature.USGBC, 2010


Wood & Nature … is naturalness enough?



NaturalnessSolid wood consistently rated as more natural than other materials.Apparent degree of transformation seems related to naturalness rating.

Steel, milled surface

Plastic, polished

Steel, painted white

Ceramic tile, white

Woven fabric

Wallpaper, white

Painted MDF (white)

Woven wool fabric

MDF, untreated

WPC, growth rings

Particleboard

Leather, untreated

Painted planed pine (white)

Cork

OSB

MDF, growth rings, white

Ash, HW, untreated

Brick tile

Clear pine, planed

Stone tile, untreated

Knotty pine, planed

Clear pine, rough sawn

1 2 3 4 5 6 7Mean rating

Spec

imen

CountryFinland

Norway

Slovenia


NaturalnessTo

p 5

Bott

om 5

(Burnard et al., 2017)


Can wood have a positive health impact?


Stress response & recovery: an experiment

• Simulated offices– 2 rooms – Each room was divided in two parts (control, wood)

– Each part was 2.5 m x 2.5 m– Each had identical furniture, apart

from material



• Within subjects design– Each subject was tested once in each

section of a room (control, wood)– 75 minutes, monitor cortisol and

heart rate, includes a stressor, and a measure of mood/wellbeing between tests (one week apart)





• Efforts to control room conditions worked... Lighting kept constant, lux at desk level varied. Walnut room was noticeably darker. May have effected results.

• Interaction with other environmental states is important!




• Cortisol concentration lower in the oak room than its control room.

• No difference in walnut room.• No difference in recovery/restoration.

Burnard, M., Kutnar, A. 2019. Human stress responses in office-like environments with wood furniture. Build. Res. Inf. https://doi.org/10.1080/09613218.2019.1660609




• Specific material characteristics that lead to different responses remain unknown.

• Expected effect size is small in short period of time – hard to detect reliably.

• The experiment was not long enough to gain a full picture of restoration & recovery.



Restorative by design?

• Biophilic design & Restorative Environmental Design are building design paradigms that seek to bring nature, and its restorative effects indoors.

(Kellert et al., 2008; Derr & Kellert, 2013)


Moving forward…

• Restorative Environmental and Ergonomic Design– InnoRenew CoE system of

applying Renewable Materials in the built environment for Health, Sustainability, Social, and Economic Wellbeing



Moving forward…

• Restorative Environmental and Ergonomic Design–Merge wider health concerns:• Indoor environmental quality• Activity & ergonomics• Ambient assisted living, Active

Healthy Ageing



A few other things…


InnoRenew CoE

• New research organization in Slovenia specializing in renewable materials research–Wood modification– Restorative environmental and ergonomic design

• 6 research groups• 54 employees / Strong international representation (~55 %

research staff from abroad)




RESE

ARCH

GROU

PS


Wood, preferences, cognition, & mental wellbeingFundamental human response to wood/built environment



Wood functions & VOCsCharacterise VOCs (from RM, processing) effects on humans, beginning at the cellular level



Ergonomic design of space and furniture



Ambient Assisted Living - Active & Healthy Aging


www.innorenew.euInnoRenew CoE Some on going work…


www.innorenew.euInnoRenew CoE Some on going work…


Fall & presence detection

PoplitealHeight

Thigh Thickness

Elbow Height Sitting

Shoulder Height Sitting

Subscapular Height

Hip Width

Buttock-Popliteal Length

School furniture fitting – big problem!


Resources• Regenerative

sustainability:– bring tools, practices, and

knowledge together to create a truly sustainable society

– http://eurestore.eu


STSMs available!

Latest publication:Regenerative Construction and Operation

Now available.

More publications…

http://www.eurestore.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/RESTORE-WG3-Booklet.pdf

https://www.eurestore.eu/publications-and-articles/


Resources• NEW PUBLICATION! State

of the Art in solutions for older adults.


STSMs available!

• Ambient assisted living–Merge disciplines (design,

health, digital) to improve independent living for older adults

– http://sheld-on.eu

http://www.sheld-on.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/SHELDON-STATE-OF-ART-DIGITAL.pdf


Where to learn more… (tell your undergraduate friends)

• University of Primorska– Faculty of mathematics, natural

sciences, information technology• Sustainable Built

Environments Master’s degree programme


https://www.famnit.upr.si/en/education/master/built-environment

www.innorenew.euInnoRenew CoEInnoRenew CoE

Livade 6, 6310 Izola/Isola, Slovenia, T: +386 40 282 944, E: [email protected], www.innorenew.eu


Thank you for your time!

Please consider joining us in March! https://conf.innorenew.eu/iric2020


References• McEwen, Bruce S. 1998. “Protective and Damaging Effects of Stress Mediators.” Edited by Jeffrey S. Flier and Lisa H. Underhill. New

England Journal of Medicine 338 (3): 171–79. doi:10.1056/NEJM199801153380307.• Tyrväinen, Liisa, Ann Ojala, Kalevi Korpela, Timo Lanki, Yuko Tsunetsugu, and Takahide Kagawa. 2014. “The Influence of Urban Green

Environments on Stress Relief Measures: A Field Experiment.” Journal of Environmental Psychology 38. Elsevier Ltd: 1–9. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2013.12.005.

• USGBC. 2010. Green building and LEED core concepts. USGBC United States Green Building Council (USGBC), Washington, DC• Burnard, Michael, and Andreja Kutnar. 2015. “Wood and Human Stress in the Built Indoor Environment: A Review.” Wood Science and

Technology 49 (5). Springer Berlin Heidelberg: 969–86. doi:10.1007/s00226-015-0747-3.• Hartig, Terry. 2004. “Toward Understanding the Restorative Environment as a Health Resource.” Engaging with the environment.

Edinburgh, 2004. OPENspace Research Centre. http://www.openspace.eca.ac.uk/conference/proceedings/PDF/Hartig.pdf• Kaplan R, Kaplan S. 1989. The experience of nature: a psychological perspective. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge• Ulrich R, Simons R, Losito B, Fiorito E, Miles M, Zelson M. 1991. Stress recovery during exposure to natural and urban environments.

Journal of Environmental Psychology 11(3):201–230• Wilson, E. O. 1984. Biophilia. Harvard University Press. http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674074422&content=reviews

http://www.openspace.eca.ac.uk/conference/proceedings/PDF/Hartig.pdf

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674074422&content=reviews


References• Kellert SR, Heerwagen JH, Mador ML. 2008. Biophilic design: the theory, science and practice of bringing buildings to life, 1st edn. Wiley,

Hoboken• Derr V, Kellert SR. 2013. Making children’s environments ‘‘R.E.D.’’: restorative environmental design and its relationship to sustainable

design. In: Pavlides E, Wells J (eds) Proceedings of the 44th annual conference of the environmental design research association. Providence, Rhode Island, 29 May–1 June 2013

• Fell D. 2010. Wood in the human environment: restorative properties of wood in the built indoor environment. PhD Dissertation, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

• Burnard, Michael, Anders Q. Nyrud, Kristian Bysheim, Andreja Kutnar, Katja Vahtikari, and Mark Hughes. 2017. “Building Material Naturalness: Perceptions from Finland, Norway and Slovenia.” Indoor and Built Environment 26 (1): 92–107. doi:10.1177/1420326X15605162.

• Burnard, Michael. 2017. “Bio-Based Materials and Human Well-Being in the Built Environment.” In Performance of Bio-Based Materials, edited by Dennis Jones and Christian Brischke, 1st ed., 365–72. Duxford: Woodhead Publishing.

• Burnard, M. D., & Kutnar, A. (2019). Human stress responses in office-like environments with wood furniture. Building Research & Information, 0(0), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/09613218.2019.1660609

human health in the built environment...• derrv, kellert sr. 2013. making children’s...

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