Over the last couple of decades, climate change and energy crises have led to an increased interest in reducing the building energy consumption. To reduce the energy consumption buildings are designed airtight. This leads to the accumulation of indoor air pollutants, which are associated with multiple health and discomfort problems. Poor indoor air quality has been linked to a number of health symptoms, like headache, nausea, dizziness, irritation of eyes and breathing problems, also known as the Sick Building Syndrome. In some metropolitan areas, indoor air has been found up to 100 times more polluted than outdoor air. The negative effects of indoor air pollution are major, also given that people in industrialized nations spend an average of 80-90% of their time indoors. Air pollution is also causing an increase in the number of lung patients. Research even shows that in Europe 99,000 premature deaths were attributed to household air pollution.
The negative health effects of the indoor environment have contributed to a renewed interest in green building practices. A couple of decades ago, NASA conducted a research where they found that plants could reduce indoor air pollution and have a positive effect on the indoor environment. More recent research has shown that plants also have a positive mental effect. The objective of the project is to create a healthy indoor environment for a Lung Rehabilitation Center, with the use of an active living wall.