building a better texas

An design efficiency checklist for medical facilities developed by researchers provides solutions for flawed floor plans that can contribute to medical staff fatigue, cause distractions that hinder patient-care and potentially result in higher medical costs.

There’s an unmistakable link between nature and wellness for people everywhere, whether they’re at work, at home, or in a healthcare facility, said Naomi Sachs, a Ph.D. architecture student at Texas A&M’s College of Architecture, in an architecture blog.

A research project examining the effect of pedestrian and activity-friendly communities on residents’ health led by Xuemei Zhu, assistant professor of architecture, is part of a new American Institute of Architects’ initiative to fund projects leading to design solutions addressing challenges in public health.

Hailed as a renowned thinker, innovator and a longtime leader in the healthcare design community, Kirk Hamilton, professor of architecture at Texas A&M, was named to a national design magazine’s 2012 list of the Most Influential People in Healthcare Design.

Student-designed concepts imagining the future of health facility design education and research at Texas A&M University and the facilities to house those initiatives were showcased at the Langford Architecture Center in an April 25 public review.

Evidence-based design and eco-effective, or sustainable, design are fundamentally compatible despite some conflicts, concluded Mardelle Shepley, professor of architecture of Texas A&M, in a research paper she’s presenting this May at a conference in Beijing, China.

Professional architects learned how to incorporate evidence-based design into healthcare projects at an April 12-14 “boot camp” sponsored by Texas A&M’s Center for Health Systems and Design.

The effects of daylight on healthcare workers and the care they provide, and how that impacts operating costs at health facilities, are the focus of an award-winning investigation by Rana Zadeh, a Ph.D. architecture student at Texas A&M.

Relationships between architectural design and health care for the under and uninsured are the focus of the Center for Health Systems & Design’s Spring 2012 Architecture-for-Health Lecture Series.