Good building design is inherently codependent with human beings. The influence of the built environment upon our health and comfort is finally getting much deserved attention, creating greater awareness and a paradigm shift in design approaches. In commercial buildings, mounting evidence about the inter-relationship of health and occupant productivity to a building’s IEQ is significant. In residential properties, the evidence goes toward health and well-being of our nations' families.

The goal of good sustainable IEQ is to effectively use design solutions to encourage higher performance of buildings and enhance the occupants’ health and productivity — which in turn translates to numerous quantifiable benefits for your clients. Additionally, there is an inseparable relationship between IEQ and energy performance which demands coordinated efforts for maximum effectiveness.
Indoor Environmental Quality involves the inherent qualities in the designed environment of the building which affect our senses: natural daylighting and connection to the outdoors (sight), acoustics (hearing), thermal comfort (touch), Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) including ventilation (smell), and ergonomics, and allows occupants control over them.
Americans spend almost 90% of their time indoors. Just this fact alone tells us the importance of designing optimum indoor environments to enhance the health and comfort of occupants. Yet, currently the opposite is true in 30% of commercial buildings which experience sick building syndrome problems, proven to be detrimental to health. The data for residential buildings is hard to collect and quantify, but poor IAQ (especially mold) and energy issues are important indicators of the need for utilizing good IEQ design strategies.

Key Systems that Comprise IEQ
It is important to consider IEQ design issues as intrinsically inseparable parts of the whole system, each having a potential positive or negative consequence on the other. All of these systems influence overall IEQ and many affect energy performance, including:
• Natural light and outdoor connection influences interior walls and finishes, occupant locations and window placement — all of which should complement one another. Energy usage can be reduced through window selection, placement and glazings, sun control devices, and lighting systems and controls.
• Acoustics also places a focus on finishes selection and choice of air flow equipment or operable windows. Coordination with any noise producing equipment such as fluorescent ballast, mechanical or media centers is recommended.
• Thermal comfort for occupants influences space planning their location and includes: temperature, airflow and humidity.
• Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) — involves careful attention to selection of finishes. Poor IAQ increases energy use for additional quantity of outdoor air ventilation needed to maintain an acceptable level of IAQ.
• Ergonomics influences product selection and, where computer monitors are in use, requires coordination with lighting and windows to prevent glare.
• Occupant Control of the indoor qualities of thermal comfort, airflow or operable windows and lighting coordinate holistically with choices of HVAC, lighting and windows.
Included in the whole systems approach, good IEQ, particularly in commercial buildings, depends upon a team of individuals working together — not only building professionals (the architects, designers, builders, owners and facility managers), but also the product manufacturers and the occupants (including waste management/cleaning personnel, employers and employees).

For commercial properties, LEED™ Credits are available for IEQ
United States Green Building Council (USGBC) established their Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED™) program to define and set standards in qualifying buildings as green. Credits can be earned to obtain one of four different levels of green building certification. LEED CI (LEED Commercial Interiors) is a pilot program rating system that addresses the specifics of tenant spaces, primarily in office and institutional buildings, used in conjunction with the LEED Green Building Rating System.
There are a total 69 points possible within six different catgegories of the LEED™ Green Building Rating System. 15 points are available in the category of IEQ. Prerequisites to earning IEQ points require meeting ASHRAE 62-1999 for ventilation and providing non-smokers zero exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (often termed second-hand smoke).