During the Post-World War II construction boom homes in the United States began considering durability, energy conservation, comfort, security, and aesthetics in housing design. These factors, within the residential sector, did not include improving the health and wellness of occupants affected by the physical housing changes. Housing materials and conditions were not deemed as issues that would affect the health and wellness of residents in the past, and this remains the same in today’s modern built housing sector. The overall goal for this thesis project was to create a housing design that supports positive behavior change, fosters a sense of community, and minimizes environmental impacts on human health. The design proposed by this thesis explores improving user health and wellness through behavioral, community, and environmental aspects of the WELL Building Standard in an affordable residential housing development. The WELL concepts are applicable to achieve affordable solutions for either low, medium, or high-income residences for a time where housing is growing rapidly, increasing in costs, and considerations for health and wellness are needed. The content in this thesis explains in detail a proposed design solution that is located within a community in Old Fourth Ward, Atlanta, Georgia. The proposed design solution in Old Fourth Ward was developed within the hypothetical housing development, called The Well Community. The results of this thesis project were translated into programmatic and spatial recommendations for designing residential environments, specifically affordable urban housing that apply the WELL Building Standard to accommodate health and wellness of residents. Designers can shape the built environment, allowing it to become preventative care and a healing aspect for people experiencing a wide range of impairments (Smith, 2015). To create a better design, we must design with psychology in mind and understand how we are affected by the built environment to reach a surrounding that supports our human behavior and how we experience it. Focusing on health and wellness in residential environments provides users with an overall improving life outside of the workplace or any other setting they might be occupying (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018).
