Wellness design emerged as a strong and growing residential trend prior to the pandemic, but its popularity has grown with the onset of the virus. More time at home meant more desire for home improvements. More information on the virus meant more Americans becoming proactive with the health of their homes. Forbes chatted with six design professionals and industry experts to see what they had to say about wellness design trends for 2021. With the knowledge of the COVID-19 virus being airborne, experts say indoor air quality should be on the top of everyone’s list.
Ventilation has always been a matter of code, but hasn’t always been optimized, with space and style considerations too often outweighing health and safety principles. “There are some states where a range hood is still not required in a home for new construction and remodeling,” observes Goranson. “With people spending more time indoors during the pandemic, contaminants can contribute to long-term health issues,” he adds. It’s not just cooking ventilation where improvements are showing up, the radio host comments, “We will also continue to install in our HVAC systems air purification that will not only take out contaminants, but viruses as well.”
Kafka sees the importance of the IAQ trend. “Given the fact that humans spend 90% of their time indoors, and that indoor air quality is reported to being more polluted than outdoor air, it’s no surprise that improving residential air quality is on the rise.”