What is Building Biology? Your Health is The Priority
What is Building Biology
Building Biology is a holistic approach to creating healthy built environments, including homes and workplaces. In Building Biology, “Nature is the gold standard”, and decisions regarding our built environment are made based not only on the health of the occupants but the health of the planet. It draws from interdisciplinary sciences of how buildings impact the health of the people inside them.
Building Biology (or Bau Biologie), originated in Germany out of the post WW2 reconstruction boom, when they realised that new post-industrial building materials that were being used to rebuild Germany were actually making people sick.
Your Home is Your Third Skin
In Building Biology, we say your home is your "third skin," after your clothes and your actual skin.
If your clothes (your second skin) are wet, or aren't warm enough, you might catch a cold.
If your house is designed and built with toxic materials and introduces pollutants inadvertently, the space you live in, its materials, its design, has an effect on your well being. At worst, it can cause and contribute to myriad health symptoms. This is also called “sick building syndrome”.
Do you notice that you feel better or more energetic when you’re away from home? If you do, there could be something in your home that is affecting you.
Your Health is The Priority
Taking care of your health is taking care of the environment too. This is based on the understanding that our own human biology is not separate from the biology of the built environment around us.
As stresses and lifestyle challenges increase, it becomes more and more crucial that our homes are made with our health as priority.
Building Biology Principles Takes Nature as The Gold Standard
Nature is the gold standard in Building Biology. We try to emulate the conditions that exist in nature to enhance life. Fundamental to biology is the symbiosis of processes that function on electromagnetism. Access to fresh air, sunshine, and nature, are basic in implementation of good planning principles.
Your Bedroom is Your Sleep Sanctuary
The bedroom has a special place in Building Biology because it is the most important place in your home, and in your life, to support your good health.
Sleep at night is your time for your body to repair, rejuvenate, and keep your immune system strong. These keep your many bodily functions in balance for you to live a healthy active life. It is essential to get the key elements of Building Biology right in your bedrooms to ensure a good night’s sleep.
When is Building Biology Helpful?
Anytime you are considering the design and layout in your home, your health, body, mind and senses, and the selection of healthy materials, finishes, and furnishings...
Any time you are ready for a change—a better home and/or a better you, using Building Biology principles can help you:
when building new;
when renovating or decorating;
review your home as it is currently.
A Building Biology Practitioner can help you navigate the massive project you’re taking on, especially when they are certified to assess, identify, and/or mitigate indoor environmental hazards to human health. Building Biologists examine your environment holistically and outline the steps you need to take so that you know that your home is supporting your health.