Delos and HDR will co-develop wellness design tools and collaborate on research

HDR and Delos have signed a strategic alliance agreement to work on applied research and further development of wellness design tools.

Delos, the pioneer of the WELL Building Standard, and the architecture firm will collaborate to further develop a technology tool to assist real estate projects to incorporate wellness and sustainability solutions and strategies in design. HDR’s proprietary tool analyzes multiple health and wellness metrics established from research supported by Delos, including access to daylight, acoustical impact on staff, access to views, likelihood of collaboration, active design standards, and more.

“We’re excited to explore how our custom tools will introduce health and wellness outcomes into the design process as early as possible,” said Colin Rohlfing, Director of Sustainable Design & Energy Solutions for HDR. “This approach to design will integrate and elevate these elements in a robust way—allowing us to demonstrate meaningful design impacts within a 3D environment.”

“HDR, already deeply invested in research which seeks to codify the impacts of healthy building on occupant heath and performance, is an obvious and exciting partner for us,” said Paul Scialla, Founder and CEO of Delos. “We look forward to joining forces with their offices around the world to accelerate the adoption of healthy, well buildings.”

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.