This course is founded on the belief that design makes a difference. We will learn how to link design intent to health outcomes. We will understand what it means to truly improve health and wellbeing (physical and mental). What are the measures? Are they meaningful? Do they matter? Can we, as a community, link our design intent to meaningful outcomes, and honestly assess how (and why) we failed? We will learn about evidence-based design and evidence-challenging design. We will take on issues of health and design that are in debate across our industry today. We will learn about core areas like public health, clinical outcomes, safety, technology, and human perception- and then seek to bridge this insight, across disciplines, to three foundational concerns of our times: Contagion, Climate and Community.
This course is cross-listed with ARCH 409-001. Undergraduate students should register for ARCH 409-001.