The latest trends in designing for health & wellbeing

As awareness of the connection between our surroundings and our health continues to grow, the built environment is being reimagined through the lens of wellbeing. This panel will explore emerging trends in designing spaces that support physical, mental, and emotional health—from biophilic design and circadian lighting to acoustics, air quality, and inclusive environments. Our panellists will highlight case studies across residential, workplace and public spaces, unpacking how data, research and community engagement are driving innovation. We’ll also examine the evolving metrics of health-centred design and how architects and developers are embedding wellbeing into the core of their practice.

Learning Outcomes

Following this presentation, you should be able to:

1. Outline the ways in which the built environment has been shown to affect physical and mental health
2. Identify emerging trends in designing spaces that support physical, mental, and emotional health
3. Identify successful examples of designing for health and wellbeing
4. Explain how architects and developers are embedding wellbeing into the core of their practice

This presentation will deliver outcomes related to the following Competency/s from the National Standard of Competency for Architects 2021:

Performance Criteria For Practice Management And Professional Conduct

PC 3 – Apply principles of project planning, considering implications for Country, environmental sustainability, communities, stakeholders and project costs.

Performance Criteria For Project Initiation And Conceptual Design

PC 25 – Be able to draw on knowledge from the history and theory of architecture as part of preliminary design research and when developing the conceptual design

PC 28 – Be able to draw on knowledge from building sciences and technology, environmental sciences and behavioural and social sciences as part of preliminary design research and when developing the conceptual design to optimise the performance of the project.

This session is presented by: