Last summer, Aussies from Perth to Sydney learned about architecture-for-health
research and educational initiatives at the Texas A&M College
of Architecture when professor George J. Mann puts on his ambassador’s
cap and headed for the Land Down Under.
Mann, the Ronald L. Skaggs Endowed Professor of Health Facilities
Design, made a series of presentations at venues including the
University of New South Wales’ (UNSW) Center for Health
Assets Australasia (CHAA) and the Faculty of the Built Environment
in Sydney.
The UNSW, Mann said, is starting its own healthcare architecture
program, and will be joining Global University Programs in Healthcare
Architecture (GUPHA), an organization co-founded in 1999 by Mann,
who currently serves as president, and Yasushi Nagasaw of the
University of Tokyo, who is the GUPHA secretary general.
From Sydney, Mann flew to Perth to advise on the development
of Rockingham Kwinana Hospital Project with Warren Kerr, director
of Hames Architects in Subiaco. Then traveled to Pretoria, South
African where made a presentation about Aggie architecture-for-health
projects undertaken in developing countries at the Council for
Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) International Convention
Center.
The CSIR seminar on health facilities design, focusing on the
design of sustainable, safe healthcare facilities in Africa,
was co-sponsored by the World Health Organization, the International
Union of Architects/Public Health Group (UIA/PHG) and the South
African Institute of Architects. Mann, an active member of UIA/PHG
since 1974, currently serves on the organization’s executive
committee.
Mann’s international blitz concluded with a GUPHA meeting
in South Africa. The organization, he said, now includes hundreds
of members.
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