Published: September 15, 2008 12:00 am            

Architecture Dream Course features design psychology expert

The University of Oklahoma College of Architecture will present two upcoming public lectures specializing in health care.

The lectures are part of the college's Dream Course this fall titled "Integrated Practice: Specializing in Healthcare -- Architecture, Interior Design, and Construction Science."

Dream Courses are set up and funded through the Provost's office, for interdisciplinary collaboration to expand the knowledge base and learning experience for students and faculty involved, and to provide for the participation of nationally and internationally renowned experts in the field of study, David Boeck, associate professor of architecture at OU, said in an e-mail.

The next lecture is 7 p.m. Sept. 23 at the National Weather Center room 1313, 120 David L. Boren Blvd.

Toby Israel, environmental psychologist, will present "Some Place Like Home: Using Design Psychology to Create Ideal Places." As a design psychologist, Israel focuses on the emotional and physiological responses to the built environment.

She will lead audience members through hands-on exercises to uncover their most positive experiences of past places. She'll show how elements of best-remembered places -- echoes of colors, textures, furniture and objects -- can be translated into ideal design. Case study examples of home, community and healthcare settings "designed from within" will provide insight into this approach that can be used to create meaningful, healing oases.

Israel is a practicing Environmental Psychologist from Princeton, N.J., with a Ph.D. in Environmental Psychology from the City University of New York. Her book, "Some Place Like Home," is the guide to help architects understand their own built environment profile so that they can in turn be more sensitive to their client's building needs.

The next event will be a panel discussion 7 p.m. Oct. 21 at the National Weather Center room 1313.

"Panel Discussion: The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Environment -- An Intervention for Infant Growth and Development" will feature Carole Kenner, dean, OU College of Nursing; Dr. Robert White, University of Notre Dame; Dr. Dennis Stevens, Professor of Pediatrics, University of South Dakota; Carole Helseth, NICU Nurse/Clinical Care Coordinator, Sanford Children's Hospital; James Harrell, architect, GBBN Architects; and Vicki VanStavern, VanStavern Design Group of Edmond.

This roundtable discussion will explore the micro and macro environment of the neonatal intensive care unit and the infant's physiologic responses. The interdisciplinary team also will touch on the impact of the design and the ambient environment, especially lighting on circadian rhythms of the staff.

Julianna Parker 366-3541 jparker@normantranscript.com

        

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