OUR VISION

In the developed world we spend 90% of our lives – and 40% of the total energy we consume – in buildings. Decisions we make about how buildings are designed, constructed and managed have significant implications for our own health, and for the health of our planet. The Institute for Health in the Built Environment advances, integrates, and applies new knowledge from diverse scientific disciplines to support a healthy, thriving community and planet.

Our mission is to develop new design concepts for the realization of healthy and sustainable inhabited space. We do this by forming unconventional transdisciplinary collaborations that conduct research where architecture, biology, medicine, chemistry, and engineering intersect and translate it into design practice through a consortium of invested industry partners.  Our understanding of what a “healthy building” constitutes – from its complex microbiome, its chemistry, its provision of light and air, and its energy and carbon footprint – is fragmented, underdeveloped, and too often not reflected in practice. The Institute for Health in the Built Environment pursues an integrated approach to conducting and applying research so that every built environment provides health at multiple scales, from individual to planetary. IHBE is dedicated to focusing on equity for individuals and communities who face health disparities due to the creation and operation of built environments.

IHBE was founded by the Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory, the Biology and the Built Environment Center, and the Baker Lighting at the University of Oregon. Find out more about our collaborating labs here.