Designing for Resilience, Flow, and the Science of Place with Dr. Esther Sternberg
In the built environment sector, we often view our mandate through a specific lens: safety. We design ventilation systems to remove contaminants, we filter air to reduce particulate matter, and we monitor CO2 levels to prevent cognitive decline. These are the non-negotiables—the "do no harm" baseline.
But what if a building could do more than just not make you sick? What if the space you inhabit could actively help you heal, manage stress, and reach a state of peak performance?
In this episode of Air Quality Matters, I sat down with Esther Sternberg M.D. , a pioneer in the science of the mind-body interaction and the role of place in well-being. Formerly the research director at the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine and a renowned author, Esther bridges the gap between hard medical science and architectural design. Her insights challenge us to look past the mechanical engineering of a building and consider the biological engineering of the human beings inside it.
From Protection to Resilience
One of the central themes of our conversation is the critical distinction between protection and resilience. As Esther points out, the global community—driven largely by the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic—has finally accepted the necessity of clean air. We know that to reduce susceptibility to a virus, we must reduce the dose and duration of exposure via ventilation and filtration.
However, Esther argues that we are missing the "third leg of the stool": Resilience.
Resilience is not merely about avoiding stress; it is about the body’s ability to bounce back. Using the analogy of a rubber band, Esther explains that a healthy stress response stretches and returns to baseline. A system that loses that elasticity leads to burnout and illness. The built environment plays a massive, often invisible role in either keeping that rubber band flexible or snapping it entirely.
The Science of Flow and The Rainbow
Part of this discussion is Esther’s breakdown of "Flow"—that elusive state of effortless performance. Contrary to popular belief, flow is not a state of relaxation. It is a state of high physiological arousal where the stress response is active, but the anxiety networks are quieted.
Esther describes this using a fascinating "rainbow" analogy. To perform at our peak, we need to be at the top of the rainbow—alert and engaged. If we slide too far one way, we are bored; too far the other, and we crash into anxiety and failure.
In the episode, we discuss how specific environmental attributes—from acoustic privacy to lighting spectrums—can be engineered to keep occupants at the top of that rainbow. We discuss why "quiet" isn't always better (and why silence can actually trigger a stress response), and how the concept of agency—giving occupants control over their environment—is the single most powerful antidote to stress.
Spirituality in the Workplace?
I must admit, when I saw a chapter on "Spirituality" in a book about buildings, I was sceptical. As engineers and scientists, words like "spiritual" often make us twitchy. Esther addresses this head-on, recounting how she was once told that "well-being" was too "new age" for a green building conference.
However, her definition of spirituality in the built environment is grounded in rigorous data. It isn’t about religiosity; it’s about connection, belonging, and the physical and temporal spaces that allow us to "go offline."
We discuss how modern office design, which often oscillates between the isolation of the C-suite and the chaos of open-plan barns, fails to provide the spaces necessary for these restorative rituals. Esther shares compelling evidence from GSA studies showing how layout directly influences stress hormones, sleep quality, and even physical movement.
Why You Should Listen
Summaries can only convey so much. To truly understand the nuance, you need to hear Esther explain the brain-immune connection in her own voice—including the incredible story of the single patient in 1979 who changed the trajectory of her career from rheumatology to mind-body science.
We also touch on:
The controversy of "one size fits all": Why standardising comfort levels (like the 72°F/22°C office) is scientifically flawed.
Virtual Nature: How immersive technology is being used to lower cortisol levels in frontline healthcare workers.
The ROI of Well-being: Moving beyond the "fuzzy" benefits to hard economic data on retention and productivity.
This conversation is a masterclass in connecting the dots between the air we breathe, the light we see, and the way our immune systems function. It forces us to ask: Are we designing buildings for statues, or for living, breathing, complex human beings?
One Take: The Economic Case for Healthy Schools
One Take, where we distil complex research into actionable insights. This week, we are looking at a scoping review by the UK Health Security Agency and UCL titled Impact of Air Quality including Thermal Conditions in Educational Buildings on Health, Wellbeing and Performance.
We often talk about school environments as a moral obligation, but this paper clarifies that it is also a massive economic one. Children spend 30% of their waking hours in these spaces, and the data shows our buildings are failing them.
The review categorises impacts into three clear buckets:
Health: There is irrefutable evidence linking poor Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)—specifically VOCs, particulate matter, and mold—to respiratory illnesses like asthma and rhinitis.
Absenteeism: The review cites a study showing that simply increasing ventilation to meet minimum standards can reduce illness-related absence by 3.4%. Scaled up, this represents millions in retained funding and reduced parental work absence.
Performance: This is the clincher. High CO2 levels (a proxy for poor ventilation) destroy concentration. Reducing CO2 from 2,100 ppm to 900 ppm was shown to improve performance speeds by 12%. Similarly, dropping classroom temperatures from an overheating 30°C to an optimal 20°C can boost task performance by roughly 20%.
The takeaway? The solutions—source control and better ventilation—are often low-cost operational fixes, yet the Return on Investment is enormous. One California study estimated that while upgrades might cost $4 million, the economic benefit exceeded $110 million annually.
Impact of Indoor Air Quality, Including Thermal Conditions, in Educational Buildings on Health, Wellbeing, and Performance: A Scoping Review
https://doi.org/10.3390/environments12080261
The Air Quality Matters Podcast in Partnership with
Zehnder Group - Farmwood - Eurovent- Aico - Aereco - Ultra Protect -
The One Take Podcast in Partnership with
SafeTraces and Inbiot
Do check them out in the links and on the Air Quality Matters Website.
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