Explaining the Conceptual Model of the Effects of Architecture on Epigenetic Changes in Healthy Buildings: A Meta-Analysis Approach

Abstract Access to a healthy life as a fundamental human right underscores the importance of designing healthy buildings. By integrating principles from architecture, medical sciences, and psychology, healthy buildings aim to minimize negative effects on users' health. In a similar vein, epigenetics, which examines environmental factors turning generational genes on or off and affecting gene expression, has shown interest in the impact of architectural spaces on epigenetic changes in individuals over time. Epigenetics aims to identify the dynamic changes in a cell's transcription potential, which may or may not be heritable. Designing a healthy building and its effect on genetic health has been a hotly-debated issue and requires more investigation. This study attempts to understand whether architecture has an effect on genetics, how the effect could be, and what architectural features influence genetics. This descriptive-analytical research employed the Delfi method and content analysis to analyze the data. The ultimate goal of this research is to compile and present the principles of healthy building design from an epigenetic perspective, to leverage architecture as a tool for treating epigenetic diseases in the future. By examining relevant theories, and meta-analyses of existing studies on the effects of environmental architecture on health, genetic, and epigenetic disorders, This study attempts to explain a conceptual framework for the effect of architecture on genetic and epigenetic changes. Future studies and experiments can focus on genetic diseases caused by building architecture.