4 min read
Where Health Lives: Notes from the Global Wellness Institute's Real Estate & Communities Symposium
A founder's reflection on health, design and the future of the built environment.
WORDS Lisa Sternfeld
Over the past several years of attending the Global Wellness Institute’s Real Estate & Communities Symposium, I've watched the conversation around health and the built environment shift in real and lasting ways. What once felt niche has become one of the most important ideas reshaping design and real estate. The industry's leading developers, designers, architects, researchers and storytellers gathered around a shared question – how can the places we build better support human health and wellbeing?
Among the many ideas shared throughout this year's symposium, one observation in particular lingered long after the conference ended. Gemma Jennings, Global Director of BBC StoryWorks, said that, “the industry is not struggling to innovate, it is struggling to translate.” The research, science and design strategies are already advancing rapidly. What remains more difficult is helping people understand what these ideas actually mean inside the context of daily life.
"We are finally recognizing that the environments surrounding the body matter too."
Lisa Sternfeld
How does better air quality change the way someone sleeps? What happens when a home is designed for restoration, not only appearance? How do materials, acoustics and a connection to nature shape the body over time? For decades, conversations around health focused almost entirely on the body itself; what we eat, how we exercise, the products we consume. We are finally recognizing that the environments surrounding the body matter too.
Joseph Allen, professor at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health and author of ‘Healthy Buildings’, described us as an indoor species. Most modern life now unfolds inside buildings, yet many environments were historically designed around temperature control and efficiency rather than human biology. One of the most striking points he made was that since the 1970s, many buildings have prioritized odor control over actual air quality. He spoke about the need for what he called “breathing buildings,” which are environments designed to work more in partnership with human biology rather than against it.
Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross, co-authors of ‘Your Brain on Art’, spoke about the relationship between environment, sensory experience and the brain, including how deeply the nervous system responds to light, sound, texture and color. These are both aesthetic and biological decisions as they shape how the body experiences stress, calm, focus and safety, often beneath conscious awareness.
Many of the conditions shaping how we feel inside our homes have remained largely invisible or been dismissed as intangible, which is changing. Communities like Serenbe outside Atlanta and Babcock Ranch in Florida continue challenging long-held assumptions about what creates value in the built environment. Instead of maximizing every square foot, they prioritize preservation, walkability, biodiversity, resilience and connection to nature. They reflect a growing desire for environments that support longevity and an improved quality of life.
How do we carry these ideas into everyday life in ways people can genuinely feel and understand? Wellness is not experienced through industry language, but rather through that which is quotidian. It’s the bedroom that allows someone to finally sleep deeply again, the apartment that feels calmer to return to at night, or the morning light that helps regulate the body after months of stress. It all revolves around quieter rooms, cleaner air, better materials and a stronger connection to nature.
This is the translation we work on every day at WLLW.
Many developments are beginning to design more intentionally around air quality, materials, light and acoustics. As these ideas move into real projects and communities, the next step is helping people understand and engage with these environments once they move in.
The conversation is moving toward a deeper recognition that our homes are constantly interacting with our biology, nervous systems and daily rhythms.
The future of design may not only be something we see. It is becoming something we feel.
Feature Image: Image courtesy of the Global Wellness Institute
