Buildings for a happier, healthier and more productive life

New York

LAST October a New York startup called Delos, founded by twin brothers who were once partners at Goldman Sachs, published what may be the most marketable proposition in real estate short of a front lawn overlooking the Fountain of Youth.

It's a manual they called The Well Building Standard and styled after the US Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (Leed) programme. It offers a set of guidelines for designing buildings that promise to make people happier, healthier and more productive - just by being inside them. Which sounds like a pretty good deal, considering the myriad threats to good health lurking in the average office building. Salty snacks, stale air, bad lighting, carpets that spit up VOCs (volatile organic compounds), lifts that promote a sedentary lifestyle.