Like the resistance knob in a demanding cycling class, the repertoire of wellness offerings in real estate projects is amping up, up, up. From infrared saunas and circadian light technology to fitness concierges and mindful product sourcing, wellness amenities grow bigger and better with every project rollout.

The real estate market is undergoing a “wellness amenities race, like an arms race,” observes John Shannon of HFZ Capital Group, a New York real estate developer that has collaborated with starchitects like David Chipperfield, Bjarke Ingels, and Robert A. M. Stern. “People are trying to offer more as a competitive advantage to the building next door.”

The design profession has long been primed to address the wellness race, in part because it has positioned itself as a problem-solving industry. “Designing with wellness in mind is to design spaces with intention that enable a better lifestyle,” says James Nozar, the developer behind Water Street, a 50-acre WELL-certified community currently under construction in Tampa, Florida.

And the quest for an improved built environment translates into significant new business opportunities for designers and architects.

A look at the numbers: In 2017, wellness real estate was a $134.3 billion market, accounting for 1.5 percent of total annual global construction, according to the Global Wellness Institute (GWI), a nonprofit research and advocacy organization. Though that figure is a small piece of the pie, it is expected to grow 8 percent annually through 2022.

“We see massive potential for what will happen in that market in the next decade-plus,” says GWI economist Katherine Johnston. “We are at the very beginning of a shift in the way building is done.”

The growth in wellness building comes partly from “consumer demand and lifestyle, and partly because of environmental and health crises around the world,” Johnston says.

In meeting both of those needs, industry professionals can expect to net a lot of design dollars. How many dollars, exactly, is difficult to pinpoint. Of the numerous developers and architecture and design firms AD PRO approached, few would share numbers of their specific budgets for wellness projects or for their wellness spending allocations overall.

But the scope of wellness projects in their pipelines offers a glimpse of the potential. Elisa Ours, chief planning and design officer at Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group, says 100 percent of the luxury firm’s properties have some wellness or health element, including live greenery walls and 75-foot lap pools. Nearly half have outdoor amenities.

HFZ Capital’s upcoming BIG–designed condo project, the XI in Manhattan, will roll out a wellness hotel, Six Senses, as well as a private amenities club for its luxury residences, which range in price from $2.8 to $28 million.

Even if you’re not an international developer or designer linked to a luxurious urban wellness complex, there are scalable ways to capitalize on this burgeoning sector. Wellness-focused design involves lighting, materials, air and sound quality, neutral color palettes, biophilic design (connecting architecture and nature), greenery, and outdoor-indoor space integration—to name just a few key design areas.

“For emerging professionals, wellness design is going to be a focus going forward,” says Kim Radovich, president of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). This focus is so salient that ASID devoted its annual continuing education summit to wellness earlier this year.

Entering the wellness design world for the first time can be daunting, though, admits Maria Lomanto, principal at interiors firm DesignGLXY, who delivered a presentation on healthy materials at the ASID conference. “There are real challenges,” says Lomanto, who researched the materials field for months before opening her firm, which will exclusively pursue wellness projects. “How do you want to do wellness? Do you want to be sustainable/carbon neutral? Life cycle issues? Circular economy? Water conservation? Sound in a space? There are so many ways you can pursue it.”

And Shelly Lynch-Sparks, founder and principal of Hyphen Interiors, which designed New York City’s MNDFL meditation studios, noted that “making sure these spaces are comfortable, sanitary, and functional—all while being aesthetically pleasing—can be challenging.”

Challenges aside, the building industry should embrace the wellness boom like a cold plunge pool. Well-being as a trend “will not be reversed,” says Shannon, of HFZ. “It continues to grow because it continues to make sense. Feeling well is a good thing. People like it—they want more and more.”

Diving in to Wellness Design

As you’re entering this $134 billion-and-growing market, consider these pro tips to help draw your road map.

Pursue training and certification. Maxime Vandal, partner in Canadian architecture firm Les Ensembliers, enrolled in courses on LEED-certified building before he and his partner renovated a farmhouse for their personal residence. “I learned a lot about material selection, how to build a better air-conditioning, how to better heat a house—it gave us a lot of solid background.” Avoid chemicals of concern in building materials, and ask vendors about their sustainability profile, Lomanto advises.

Comparison shop. Don’t assume a more mindful material is more expensive, Lomanto says, because often it isn’t. Sometimes it’s a matter of knowing healthier alternatives exist and then convincing a client that they are equally desirable.

Pivot the personal to the professional. Several of Lynch-Sparks’s projects at Hyphen have come about because she or her team members were clients or fans of a brand and then approached that brand about design work. Because of that outreach, the firm’s percentage of wellness projects has increased 25 percent in the past two years. Likewise, the Les Ensembliers couple created a large sustainable vegetable garden on their farm, and after seeing the garden on their Instagram, a residential client said, “Build us a vegetable garden too,” according to the designers.

Network. “There are so many incredible organizations supporting wellness design,” Lynch-Sparks says. Attend a panel talk or event, and start gathering info from others in the field.

Go pro bono. If you’re not established enough to be contracted for a wellness-specific project, volunteer some of your services for a public service project that involves wellness. ASID’s Radovich designed, pro bono, a small meditation room for a nonprofit children’s health facility in Long Island. Since then, Radovich has continued to integrate wellness-building elements in projects. “With that intention, we are creating business in a healthy, ethical, and moral way.”