Ellerbe Becket has partnered with the University of Minnesota Center for Spirituality and Healing in co-sponsoring a lecture series on the development of Optimal Healing Environments.

This topic of this lecture is "Evidence-Based Design: What Do We Really Know?" featuring Craig Zimring, PhD.

Evidence-based design (EBD) is influencing billions of dollars of construction today. For example, the Center for Health Design is working with more than 50 Pebble Partners who are incorporating EBD into healthcare projects. The Military Health System has adopted EBD as a cornerstone of their $11 billion modernization program for 70 hospitals and 814 medical and dental clinics worldwide. Kaiser Permanente and its partners, representing some 100,000 hospital beds, are employing EBD to ensure patient, staff and environmental safety as part of their Global Health and Safety Initiative. EBD has recently been applied to a wide range of settings including schools, workplaces and correctional facilities. But the question remains: How good is this evidence?

Craig Zimring, PhD, is an environmental psychologist and professor of architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Zimring’s work and multidisciplinary research focuses on understanding the relationships between the physical environment and human satisfaction, performance and behavior. He directs the Georgia Tech Healthy Environments Research Group and currently serves on the board of directors of the Center for Health Design. The Emory Hospital Neurocritical Care Unit that the Georgia Tech team helped design recently won the 2008 Society of Critical Care Medicine Design Citation for the best ICU design.

“In a recent study of healthcare CEOs who use evidence-based design, we found that successful organizations often represent a fundamental shift in the way healthcare organizations think about, deliver, and manage buildings,” said Zimring. “Rather than regarding them as cost centers, these facilities are seen as an integral part of a healing environment. Successful organizations also put in place structured evidence-based processes that establish broad agreement on principles underlying the design; articulated goals that must be satisfied to achieve those principles; and set measurable, expected outcomes. We noted that they infused these principles, goals, and expected outcomes throughout all steps of planning, designing, and operating buildings, establishing specific measurement, reporting, and accountability at each step.”

“For designers, this allows them to help clients achieve what they really care about, such as helping patients get well faster; children learn better; or workers be more productive. All too often designers are relegated to making buildings more interesting or pleasing. These are important goals but designers can do much more,” Zimring states.

The “Evidence-Based Design: What do we Really Know?” lecture, Q & A, and reception will take place at the University of Minnesota's Mayo Memorial Auditorium on Tuesday, October 28, 2008, at 4 pm. As seating is limited for this free event, registration is required. Please call 612-624-9459 to register or with any questions.