Abstract

In the taxonomy of creatures, human is a complex being, a feature that makes him vulnerable, such that if he lacked the power to reason and intelligence, he would certainly not be able to deal with the threats of the nature. Creating a shelter, from its primitive form for cave dwellers to today's luxurious buildings, all point to the man's need for privacy that primarily guarantees his security, but a closer look at this physical boundary between man and nature, which is known as residence, reveals that there are a plethora of problems, questions, and requirements besides security, ranging from the extent to which nature suffers as a result of construction to the health problems that this demarcation creates for humans. Evidently, not being attentive to the environment will result in health problems, but since sustainable architecture is not necessarily considered a moral obligation to care for the health of residents, developing building regulations and design policies with an emphasis on human health seems essential. One of such problems, whose consequences are clearly noticeable in current societies and families, is the lack of access to natural daylight as a result of increased unorganized constructions and regardless of environmental conditions, and ultimately the emergence of dysfunctional buildings for their residents in the community, which in turn will eventually bring about irreversible physical and mental problems. In this article, the notion of “Sick Building Syndrome” (or SBS for short), and its underlying causes are reviewed by conducting a series of studies on authoritative and up-to-date sources, articles, and books. Here, the role that natural daylight plays as one of the major elements whose lack or absence will lead to the formation of a sick building in society, along with the factors and elements contributing the increased prevalence of this type of building are studied in the scope of architectural designing. The authors believe that identifying the reasons for the rise of acute health problems in our current society and promoting builders and architects to use appropriate and low-cost solutions, will greatly alleviate these problems.