Offset: any remaining carbon should be offset via Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) or recognised carbon offset schemes.

It’s open, it’s airy, so that provides light.It’s quite a light feeling building.’.

Wood confirms that by turning the upper floor, outpatient windows inward toward the courtyard, Bryden Wood were able to create ‘much better acoustic and views’ for those rooms.‘We made the building an experience that was unaffected by surroundings…major roads and other buildings that we had privacy issues with onsite.We turned the section of the building, so it’s quite introspective…instead of looking out, or typically out, to the surrounding environment, which is compromised.’ Additionally, he comments that the removal of the ‘domesticity’ of these windows aids with providing the building’s external aesthetic that ‘higher, almost iconic value,’ it manages to achieve.. It’s all part of Circle’s larger focus on personal experience, which Highton also discusses with respect to the patient bedrooms.

These he describes as being ‘of a very good size...not too big… So they’re not cold and very clinical,’ he says, before highlighting that because the patients all have their own individual rooms, ‘there is much more space.’ Each in-patient room also contains a couch able to double up as a bed for guests if they want it overnight.It’s all been well considered, in other words, with practicality and comfort being the priorities..

This ongoing sense of space, light and comfort lend themselves to what is undeniably a positive hospital experience for staff, with the feeling manifesting in a variety of ways.. Sharon Matchey, Circle’s Admin Lead, works alongside Adam Chivers on the admin floor and comments on the department’s open plan structure, ‘If you’re having a bad day the team lift you,’ she says.

‘We all keep an eye on each other.’.In the case of designing for COVID, the most obvious starting point is to look at the airflow of a building — how it might move through an office floor plate, for example.

Here, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) offers us a way to address the challenge using a process based on mathematical modelling..Passive design measures also form a key part of a sustainable design strategy.

We must consider elements such as building orientation, the optimisation of facades to balance seasonal heat loss and gain, enhancing daylight and using natural or mixed-mode ventilation.To truly achieve sustainability in design, we should use passive design measures as much as we can to address health and wellness related challenges, as we search for a balance between wellness and energy efficiency.