The threat of wildfires in California has significantly altered quality of life in the region. Adaptation will require fundamental corrections in land stewardship, development patterns, and building practices. Design professionals must make sense of an overwhelming array of information. In this article a literature review summarizes design relevant information including the role of wildfire in... Read more »
What design strategies should be used for expanding the boundary of healthcare facilities beyond the conventional norm? How could design practice create a facility that is more than a community wellness center? This paper focuses on the expansion and decentralization of healthcare within a community context. For academics and practitioners, the changing landscape of the... Read more »
This investigation was conducted for a conceptual design competition, specifically focusing on the design of a therapeutic community for space travel. The competition encouraged innovation by asking participants to solve challenges anticipated in the future delivery of healthcare without the usual restrictions tied to budget, schedule, and codes. This research focused on Translational Medicine, or... Read more »
This article investigates the design strategies for enhancing the well-being, comfort, and safety of the patient along with providing spaces for the care givers that streamlines workflow, adapt to technology and care within the premises of radiation oncology treatment. The vault is the core of the radiation oncology treatment process. This study analyzed how the... Read more »
The COVID-19 public health crisis has affected many aspects of daily living and working behavior, impacting carbon footprint. This research aims to explore adaptive working behavior and its direct and quantifiable environmental impacts. It studies various working and commuting behavior scenarios on energy consumption and the carbon footprint of commuting and building operations. The paper... Read more »
Research in the profession of Architecture has been an ill-defined endeavor for decades. During the 1980’s, research was by and large under the purview of academic institutions, and it was primarily focused on issues that were perceived by professionals as having questionable relevance to their work. Through the end of the millennium firms, with few... Read more »
The construction of zero energy buildings has been an impactful response to global warming and energy crises. Despite numerous approaches to model net-zero-energy buildings, it is still a challenge for building designers to evaluate the possibility of achieving this goal during the architectural design phases. This article, therefore, aims to offer a systematic framework for... Read more »
Tasked by our client to identify a local wood cladding product that met their institutional and budget goals, we researched several products for a new natural history museum in Minnesota. Ultimately, the Minneapolis Perkins&Will team designed and specified an environmentally responsible building façade assembly that aligns with the client’s budget, values, and aspirations – while... Read more »
Given the ongoing climate of fear surrounding gun violence in K-12 schools, safety and security for school facilities have come to the forefront as a top priority for architects and designers. Unfortunately, very little scientific research exists to recommend design approaches that measurably impact school violence rates. This article seeks to provide a brief overview... Read more »
Do wellness certifications make the differences that they claim? Implementing design strategies that only focus on a singular certification, or without factoring sustainability metrics inclusive of occupant wellbeing and comfort, can result in suboptimal and regressive design qualities, and compromise several decades of diligent, high-performing work. Meanwhile, combining multiple rating systems can yield to wholistic... Read more »
We currently face a third wave of a COVID-19 Pandemic that threatens to incur more devastating losses than the previous two. The need for an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) that is planned for response to an infectious pandemic surge in a manner that is financially and operationally practical to implement is urgent at present. The... Read more »