Newsletter of the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University
There weren't any drill sergeants or marching, but there was plenty of work that went on at an evidence-based design boot camp for professional architects hosted April 8-10 by Texas A&M's Center for Health Systems & Design.
Seven architects from three large architectural firms with significant health care practices attended the camp at the Vineyard Court Designer Suites Hotel in College Station.
"OK, so you believe in evidence-based design, you think it might be a good thing, but how do you actually do it?" said Kirk Hamilton, associate professor of architecture and CHSD associate director. "What does it mean to your project in your office?"
The architects, from the firms Ellerbe Becket, Perkins Eastman and Cannon Design, learned how to incorporate evidence-based design into a current project at their respective firms.
"We gave them a combination of very specific, hands-on assistance on how to incorporate evidence-based design into their projects as well as more generic advice," said Hamilton.
During the camp, architects got a real workout, he said.
"They worked late and they had homework, but they all left pumped up, saying it was going to change the way they work," he said.
Among their assignments for the camp, architects were asked to search for literature relevant to their respective projects and identify how to make an interpretation of their findings that's useful for design concepts, said Hamilton.
"We had them turn their clients' key goals and design issues into researchable questions so they could develop concepts based on their interpretations of the literature they found," he said.
Having seven architects as opposed to a larger group was an advantage for both the faculty and the architects, said Hamilton, adding that it enabled faculty to give a great deal of personal, specific instruction to each camper.
In addition to Hamilton, serving as faculty for the camp were:
Graduate architecture students Brian Briscoe, Southern Ellis and Erin Peavey helped campers perform their research.
There's no firm date scheduled for the next boot camp, although Hamilton is hoping there will be three a year, one in the fall and spring semesters and another during winter break.
"It's a program that's also suitable for architects who aren't involved in healthcare," said Hamilton. "All seven attendees in April brought health care projects, but that's understandable because of who we are," he said.
Visit the CHSD website at http://archone.tamu.edu/chsd
- Posted: May 11, 2010 -
