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你的办公环境够健康吗?

2018-08-15来源:和谐英语

For decades, many developers and architects worked to ensure that their buildings were kind to the planet. Now, their focus is on the effect that buildings have on the people who work in them.
数十年来,许多开发商和建筑师都努力确保他们的建筑是对这个星球友好的。如今,他们将重心放在了建筑对在其中工作的人的影响上。

Studies show that healthy workers tend to be more productive, a concept that is behind a growing trend in real estate to create offices with measurable wellness benefits. One frequently cited Harvard study showed that improving air quality caused mental cognition to soar.
研究显示,健康的员工工作效率更高,这个概念支撑着房地产行业一个日益增长的趋势,即打造健康福祉可以计量的办公室。一项经常被引用的哈佛大学研究表明,空气质量的改善可以带来心理认知能力的极大提高。

New certification programs have sprung up to guide the way, including the Well Building Standard, introduced by the development company Delos in 2014 and based on medical research that shows how our surroundings affect our health.
新的认证项目如雨后春笋般冒了出来,为这股趋势指路,其中包括Well建筑标准(Well Building Standard)。它由房地产及科技公司迪洛斯(Delos)于2014年推出。该系统以显示我们的周遭环境如何影响人体健康的医学研究为基础。

Delos’s new headquarters, on the fourth and fifth floors of a 10-story tower in Manhattan, were designed by the architecture firm Gensler. The 19,000-square-foot office space houses 70 employees and serves as a showplace for the Well standard.
迪洛斯的新总部位于曼哈顿一幢十层大楼的四层和五层,由晋思建筑师事务所(Gensler)设计。这个占地1.9万平方英尺(约合1765平方米)的办公空间能容纳70名员工,是Well建筑标准的样板间。

In the reception area, where a tour of the office was about to begin on a recent afternoon, the air quality was good. There was proof: A digital display measuring about 6? feet by 12 feet covering one wall showed the indoor temperature, the humidity level, and other measurements of cleanliness and comfort with data supplied by sensors throughout the office.
近期的一个下午,对这个办公室的参观从接待处开始,空气感觉清新。这是有证据的:一个占满一面墙,约6.5英尺(约合2米)高、12英尺宽(约合3.7米)的电子屏幕显示着室内温度、湿度及其他洁净及舒适度的测定数值,这些数据由办公室各处放置的感应器提供。

“We have 51 sensors, which is extreme overkill,” said Janna Wandzilak, a Delos director, who was leading our tour.
“我们装了51个感应器,非常多,”带领我们参观的迪洛斯主管詹娜·旺兹拉克(Janna Wandzilak)说。

Triple-filtered air whooshes in from floor vents, while ceiling ducts suck out carbon dioxide-filled air. Plants cascading from walls and partitions also help clean the air while satisfying our innate need to connect to nature, a concept known as biophilia.
经过三层过滤的空气呼呼地从地板上的通风口喷出,与此同时,天花板上的通风管道将充满二氧化碳的空气吸走。爬满墙壁和隔墙的植物也有助于清洁空气,同时还能满足我们与生俱来的与大自然亲近的需求,这就是所谓的“热爱生命的天性”。

Standing desks are everywhere, and a wide oak staircase stretches between the lower and upper floors, encouraging staff to walk up and down rather than take the elevator — all contributing to fitness.
站立式办公桌随处可见,一个宽敞的橡木楼梯连接上下两层楼,鼓励员工上下走动,而不是乘坐电梯——这些都有助于健身。

“I definitely find myself sitting less,” Paul Scialla, Delos’s chief executive, said in an interview in his office, which was decorated with framed photos. One showed him with the wellness guru Deepak Chopra, a member of the Delos advisory board.
“我发现自己确实坐的时候变少了,”迪洛斯的首席执行官保罗·夏拉(Paul Scialla)在自己的办公室接受采访时说,这里到处都是用相框镶嵌起来的照片。其中一张是他与健康专家狄巴克·乔布拉(Deepak Chopra)的合影,后者也是迪洛斯咨询委员会的成员。

After 18 years trading bonds on Wall Street, Mr. Scialla founded the company in 2014, having identified an untapped market at the intersection of real estate and the booming wellness movement.
在华尔街从事债券交易18年后,夏拉于2014年创办了这家公司,在房地产和蓬勃发展的健康运动交叉地带,他发现了一个尚未开发的市场。

The Well system has criteria in seven categories that promote the health of a building’s occupants, including nourishment — which explains the almond butter, the whole-grain bread and the organic apples in the Delos cafe. The other categories are air, comfort, fitness, light, mind and water.
Well标准体系分为七大类标准,它们旨在提升一幢大楼内人员的健康,包括营养——这解释了迪洛斯咖啡馆中的杏仁酱、全麦面包及有机苹果。其他几大类分别为空气、舒适度、健身、光、精神和水。

A 282-page manual explains the standard, which is administered by the International Well Building Institute, a public benefit corporation spun off from Delos. The third-party certification is done by Green Business Certification — which also certifies Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, projects — and involves in-office auditing and laboratory analysis of water and air samples.
一个282页篇幅的册子解释了这些由国际WELL建筑研究院(International Well Building Institute)管理的标准,这家研究院是迪洛斯衍生出来的一家公益企业。第三方认证则由绿色事业认证(Green Business Certification)进行——该机构还对能源与环境先导设计(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design,简称LEED)项目进行认证——包括对水和空气样本的上门审核及实验室分析。

According to Delos, 954 projects in 35 countries are registered for Well, certified or precertified; 327 of them are in the United States, including 24 in New York. The vast majority of projects are offices. Not surprisingly, the Delos headquarters achieved the most demanding level of certification, platinum.
根据迪洛斯的数据,35个国家的954个项目已经注册了WELL,有些经过了认证,有些受到了预先认证;其中有327个项目在美国,纽约有24个。这些项目中有一大部分都是办公室。毫无意外,迪洛斯的总部达到了要求最高的认证标准——白金级。

The workplaces are designed to coax people to change their behavior. Stairs are placed front and center, for instance, to encourage their use.
工作场合的设计是为了引导人们改变自己的行为。比如,为了鼓励人们多加利用,楼梯放在了前方和中间的位置。

But occupants benefit simply from being in an office that has been designed to optimize their health. For instance, the circadian lighting that changes throughout the day, keeping pace with the brightening and dimming of sunlight, has been shown to improve sleeping at night.
但在一个以促进健康为设计宗旨的办公室里,仅仅是身在其中就能获益了。例如,以24小时为周期的照明会在一天内不断变化,与日光的增强和转暗保持同步,这一举措已经被证明能够改善人们在晚间的睡眠质量。

“If we can engineer the box we spend 90 percent of our lives in to deliver health care automatically, that’s a very big impact,” Mr. Scialla said.
夏拉说:“如果我们能设计出一个盒子,我们90%的生命都在它里面度过,而它会自动提供医疗保健,那将会产生非常大的影响。”

Other standards have been created for health and wellness. Fitwel, for instance, offers a certification program with similar goals but a different origin and methods.
已经出现了为保健和健康制定的其他标准。例如,Fitwel提供了一个目标相似但来源和方法不同的认证项目。

Developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fitwel is based primarily on public health data and promotes strategies shown to have the greatest effect on health.
由疾病控制和预防中心(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)开发的Fitwel主要基于公共卫生数据,并推广已经对健康显示出最大影响的战略。

After testing the system on workplaces of the General Services Administration, the C.D.C. contracted with the Center for Active Design, a noNPRofit organization in New York, to administer the program and apply it more broadly.
在对总务管理局(General Services Administration)办公室的系统进行测试后,疾病控制和预防中心与纽约的一个非营利组织积极设计中心(Center for Active Design)签订了合同,以管理并更广泛地应用该项目。

Started last year, Fitwel is essentially a do-it-yourself web-based checklist and scoring system. A building owner or manager enters information about a facility and submits photographic evidence.
从去年开始的Fitwel基本上是一个自己动手的在线清单和评分系统。一栋建筑的所有者或管理者输入有关一个设施的信息并提交照片证据。

“It was designed to be so simple that you can walk around a building with a tablet and check on a checklist and take photos with the tablet and upload them,” said Liz York, the C.D.C.’s chief sustainability officer. “At the end, you click a button.”
“它的设计非常简单,你可以带着平板电脑在一座建筑里走动,查看清单,用平板电脑拍照并上传,”疾病控制和预防中心首席可持续发展官利兹·约克(Liz York)说。“到最后,点击一个按钮。”

Reviewers process the information and give the user a score as well as a to-do list to improve office conditions.
审阅者会处理这些信息,给用户一个评分和一张待办事项清单,以改善办公条件。

Some companies, such as the commercial real estate firm Tishman Speyer, which has a seat on Fitwel’s advisory board, are applying the program across their portfolio of buildings.
包括商业房地产公司铁狮门(Tishman Speyer)在内的一些公司是Fitwel的顾问委员会成员,这些公司正在它们进行的开发项目中应用它。

“You can use Fitwel in an individual building, but we want to support massive users,” said Joanna Frank, president and chief executive of the Center for Active Design. “We’re looking at large-scale market transformation.”
“你可以在一栋单独的建筑中使用Fitwel,但是我们希望支持大量用户,”积极设计中心(Center for Active Design)总裁兼首席执行官乔安娜·弗兰克(Joanna Frank)说。“我们正在考虑大规模市场转型。”

Certification for Fitwel costs far less than that for Well.
Fitwel的认证费用远远低于Well。

The Well program costs $1,800 to $4,200 to register, depending on square footage, and $7,500 to $131,250 to certify. This does not account for the financial outlay to apply the health-promoting features required to achieve certification.
Well项目的注册费用为1800至4200美元,认证费用为7500至131250美元,具体视面积而定。这不包括为了把促进健康功能投入应用以获得认证所需的开支。

Furthermore, recertification every three years is recommended, to ensure that offices continue to be healthy places.
此外还建议每三年重新认证一次,以确保办公室继续成为能促进健康的环境。

Fitwel charges $500 to register and $6,000 to certify. And the financial outlay required to meet some recommendations can be quite modest. One recommendation might be to put up signs directing employees to the stairs to encourage their use; another might be to set aside a lactation room or a station for nursing mothers.
Fitwel收取500美元注册费和6000美元认证费。满足一些建议所需要的经费支出可能相当有限。一个建议可能是竖立通向楼梯的标志,鼓励员工走楼梯;另一种可能是为哺乳的母亲留出哺乳室或工位。

Even after attaining Fitwel certification, building managers can work to increase scores — and enhance interiors — by making additional investments as their budgets allow.
即使在获得Fitwel的认证后,建筑管理者也还可以通过在预算允许的情况下进行额外投资来提高分数,并改善内部装修。

The expected improvements in employee wellness from either program can result in productivity gains, including lower health care costs, lower rates of absenteeism and increased revenue from better employee performance.
这两个项目对员工健康的预期改善可以提高生产率,包括降低医疗保健成本、缺勤率以及提高员工绩效带来的收入。

The American Society of Interior Designers said it had achieved a 16 percent productivity gain after moving into its Well-certified headquarters in Washington two years ago. The organization, which spent about $2 million outfitting the space, tracked the impact of the design and found increased engagement and reduced absenteeism, Randy W. Fiser, the chief executive, said.
美国室内设计师协会(The American Society of Interior Designers)称,两年前搬进得到了Well认证的华盛顿总部后,该协会的生产率提高了16%。首席执行官兰迪·费瑟(Randy W. Fiser)说,该组织耗资约200万美元为办公空间配备设备,跟踪该设计的影响,并发现员工参与度有所提高,缺勤率有所降低。

Mr. Fiser, who is also a member of the Delos advisory board, said the organization added nearly $700,000 to its bottom line in its first year from the productivity increase as well as savings from energy costs.
费瑟也是迪洛斯顾问委员会的成员,他说,该组织在第一年因生产力的提高和能源成本的节约而增加了近70万美元的净利润。

However, the desire to attract staff seems to be driving many companies to turn to programs that help them develop healthy offices, according to architects and designers who work with clients on such projects.
然而,据与客户一起参与这些项目的建筑师和设计师所称,吸引员工的愿望似乎正在促使许多公司转向可以帮它们打造健康办公环境的项目。

“In today’s economy, people can change jobs,” said Paula McEvoy, an architect and co-director of sustainable design for Perkins & Will, which last year completed two Well-certified projects and five Fitwel certifications. “They can choose their workplace.”
“在今天的经济里,人们可以换工作,”珀金斯威尔建筑设计事务所(Perkins & Will)建筑师兼可持续设计联席总监宝拉·麦克沃伊(Paula McEvoy)说,该公司去年完成了两个Well认证的项目和五个Fitwel认证。“他们可以选择工作的场所。"

With the two certification systems doing essentially the same thing, some designers say there can be confusion over the programs.
由于两个认证系统做的基本上是相同的事情,一些设计师可能会有些困惑。

But Ms. Frank of the Center for Active Design brushes that off.
但是积极设计中心的弗兰克对此不以为然。

“We believe there’s room in the marketplace for both certifications,” she said, adding that the existence of two programs might strengthen the healthy-office message.
“我们相信市场上有两种认证系统共存的空间,”她说,并补充说,两个项目的存在可能会加强健康办公室存在意义的信息。

“The more people talking about promoting health in the workplace, the better,” she said.
她说:“越多人在谈论促进工作场所的健康越好。”