SICK BUILDING

noun (Health and Fitness) A building in which the environment is a health risk to its occupants, especially because of inadequate ventilation or air conditioning; used especially in sick building syndrome, the set of adverse environmental conditions found in a sick building; also, the set of symptoms (such as headaches, dizziness, etc.) experienced by the people who live or work there. Etymology: Formed by compounding. There is both a figurative and an elliptical quality to the use of sick here: architects and designers try to treat the symptoms caused by poor design, although it is not the building that is sick, but the people who use it. History and Usage: Architects first wrote about large, centrally ventilated buildings as sick buildings in the early eighties and the set of vague symptoms suffered by people who used such buildings had become known as sick building syndrome (sometimes abbreviated to SBS) by the mid eighties. Commonly reported symptoms included headaches, dizziness, nausea, chest problems, and general fatigue; most could be attributed to poor air quality or actual air pollution within the building. New buildings in particular tend to make the most efficient use of energy, avoiding unnecessary intake of air from the outside which might increase fuel costs; the result is a building which is airtight to fresh air not forming part of the ventilation system, and in which the same dirty or contaminated air can be circulated over and over again. Such a building is also known as a tight building, and an alternative name for sick building syndrome--especially when it is attributable entirely to such a limited air supply--is tight building syndrome (abbreviated to TBS). For lack of documentation, employers considered that the collection of symptoms that now go under the label Tight Building Syndrome (TBS)--or Sick Building Syndrome--were psychosomatic. Not too surprising, since TBS's raspy throats, persistent coughs, burning eyes, headaches, dizziness, nausea and midafternoon drowsiness tend to disappear a half-hour after sufferers leave work. Canadian Business Apr. 1987, p. 58 This is a book that affects to loathe the modern world. Modern architecture is dismissed in three words ('sick building syndrome') and barely redeemed by another ('Baubiologie'--t he architectural sprig of west German green consumerism). Green Magazine Dec. 1989, p. 18 Airtight and chemical-laden, office environments may cause 'sick building syndrome', a condition characterized by fatigue, nausea, and respiratory illness. Garbage Nov. 1990, p. 43