The week’s events offer workshops for health care and design professionals, faculty and students, a free public lecture and an auction of student-designed chairs, with proceeds benefiting academic enrichment at the institute.
On Thursday, Oct. 7, licensed practicing physician and
The lecture is sponsored by the Berger Partnership (www.bergerpartnership.com), a Seattle-based landscape architecture firm.
Dr. Westphal, who was a landscape architect before becoming a physician, focuses on therapeutic landscape design. She pursued a medical degree as more clients began to request special garden areas for their residents and/or patients.
Over the past seven years she has conducted post-construction evaluations on the efficacy of therapeutic gardens for different types of patients, including Alzheimer’s and post-stroke patients. Westphal is completing a book on her findings, “Therapeutic Site Design.” She teaches in the landscape architecture program at
About the Symposium
The intersection of urban design, public health, technology and other cultural factors provides opportunities for research and creative thinking about ways to make cities and structures more conducive to individual well-being, said symposium organizers.
Panels and presentations will address a wide range of topics, including social capital, mental health, new urbanism, open space, regional demographics, color and light in healthcare facilities, cultural implications in design and the
Nancy Blossom, director of the Interdisciplinary Design Institute, said the symposium “is a wonderful opportunity to bring together separate areas of scholarship in environment, behavior and health, to take advantage of what WSU Spokane offers in design and health sciences, and what
The symposium is intended to demonstrate the relationship of research and practice in the design process, to increase interaction between academic disciplines in design and health sciences and to promote intellectual engagement between design professionals and academics. Graduate and undergraduate students will benefit from the opportunity to learn from national leaders in the design disciplines, as well as to explore the interaction of health and design in
The symposium received sponsorship support from M. Kenneth Roberts, Northwest Architectural Company (www.nwarchco.com), ALSC Architects (www.alscarchitects.com), David’s Pizza (www.davidspizza.com), Zimmer, Gunsul & Frasca Partnership of Portland, Ore; and Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream.
Annual Design and Construction Charrette
The week will include the annual Community Design and Construction Charrette, in which interdisciplinary student teams will tackle a design and healthcare challenge with a tight deadline. Their projects will be judged by professionals from both fields, with cash prizes awarded to the top teams. Past charrettes have focused on projects such as St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute, the University District and the Great Spokane River Gorge.
Chair auction to benefit academic programs
During the first week of the fall semester, 97 students at the Interdisciplinary Design Institute designed and constructed 19 chairs using all recyclable materials (e.g. cardboard and glue). In their design students had to consider function, aesthetics, ergonomic and economic factors, and they had to see that the exercise modeled the design-build process. Sustainability was another feature of the challenge — students were judged in part on the amount of waste generated by the project.
Immediately preceding the public lecture, the chairs will be sold through a silent auction. The proceeds will benefit academic enrichment at the design institute.
About the Interdisciplinary Design Institute
The Interdisciplinary Design Institute at WSU Spokane advances knowledge to enhance the quality of people’s lives in the built and natural environment through interdisciplinary instruction, research and community service in design and construction. Students in architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, construction management and design-build management study at the institute. A Doctorate of Design degree is offered at WSU Spokane, which is only the second university in the nation to offer such a degree.
Web sites:
Interdisciplinary Design Institute: www.idi.spokane.wsu.edu
WSU Spokane: www.spokane.wsu.edu
Past news release on interdisciplinary design: www.news.spokane.wsu.edu
Note to editors:
WSU Spokane faculty and guest speakers are available as expert sources on topics below and more. Contact them directly, or for assistance in reaching them, contact Barb Chamberlain, chamberlain@wsu.edu, (509) 358-7527.
–Urban design: Matt Cohen, cohenm@wsu.edu, (509) 358-7915) and Bob Scarfo, scarfo@wsu.edu, (509) 358-7913.
–Historic preservation: Matt Cohen, cohenm@wsu.edu, (509) 358-7915)
–New Urbanism: Bob Scarfo, scarfo@wsu.edu, (509) 358-7913) and Matt Cohen, cohenm@wsu.edu, (
509) 358-7915.
–Daylight and lighting design: Nancy Clark Brown, ncbrown@wsu.edu, (509) 358-7906 and Judy Theodorson, jtheodorson@wsu.edu, (509) 358-7964.
–Geographic Information Systems and demographics: Kerry Brooks, kerrybrooks@wsu.edu, (509) 358-7911.
–Spokane Public Schools “green schools initiative”: Spokane School District, Greg Brown, director of capital projects, (509) 354-5775, gregoryb@spokaneschools.org
–Color and light in health care facilities: Benyamin Schwartz, environmental planning, University of Missouri, SchwarzB@missouri.edu
–Cultural implications in health care design: Eileen Jones, Perkins and Will, Chicago, Eileen.Jones@perkinswill.com
