Welcome to the International Academy for Design and Health

Final panel discussion on Saturday 18th July, 2015

The International Academy for Design & Health is a leading global, interdisciplinary knowledge community dedicated to the stimulation and application of research concerning the interaction between design, health, science & culture. Providing a highly visible global forum for an ongoing exchange of research findings among scientists, designers and industry, we work in close partnership with our international network of governments, universities and commercial organizations to promote human health, wellbeing and quality of life through environmental design.

A theme running through the congress was the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in order to understand the impact of urban environments on our health and wellbeing. The congress started with a pre-congress session focusing on Hong Kong’s local needs. This included presentations from Hong Kong authorities such as the Architectural Services Department, Housing Department, the Department of Health of the Government of Hong Kong’s Special Administrative Region, and the Hospital Authority.

The main congress highlighted the critical aspects of urban and built environment design that affect our health and wellbeing, and how to design psychosocially supportive environments to support healthy behavior changes. The importance of shaping future cities with clean air, clean water and clean land, as well as creative urban design was much discussed by delegates and speakers from leading academic institutions and healthcare industries worldwide, and the active participation of local and national governments, including South Africa and Vietnam.

The congress concluded on Saturday July 18^th with an interdisciplinary expert panel discussion between practitioners and academia on how to create healthy built environments for the 21^st century. Panelists included the deputy secretary of health from Hong Kong, Prof. Sofia Chan, and former Hong Kong secretary of health Prof. Yeoh and Deputy Health Minister from Vietnam.

Click here to view the recorded videos and download the speaker's presentations, and here to download the Final Programme for Hong Kong 2015.

Click here to also view a slideshow of images from the congress. If you want to download a picture from the slideshow just click "download" in the menu when the picture you want is on the screen.

See below for the Academy Awards Celebration, with over 30 awards that represent the most prestigious advocacy programme for creating healthy built environment.

Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital Designed by Conrad Gargett Lyons (joint venture) scoops four Academy Awards

The recently completed Lady Cilento Children’s hospital in Brisbane, Australia, received a total of four awards at this year's prestigious Design & Health International Academy Awards 2015, announced in a ceremony on the 18 July at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Hong Kong.

Considered by the judges to be at the leading edge of innovation in terms of both its creative design, its approach to health promotion and the way the hospital design had been integrated with the city, Lady Cilento Children’s hospital was judged to be the winner of salutogenic healthcare design categories, and highly commended in the categories International Health Project (over 40,000 m2); Interior Design and Use of Art in Public and Private Spaces.

Other strong performers included:

• the winner of Interior Design project: Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital, commissioned by Department of Buildings & General Services, Vermont, USA, designed by architecture+,
• the winner of International Health Project (over 40,000 m2): Akerhus University Hospital, Norway, commissioned by Helse Sør Øst RHF, designed by C.F. Møller Architects,
• the winner of International Health Project (under 40,000 m2) category: Shoalhaven Cancer Care Centre, commissioned by Health Infrastructure NSW, designed by HASSELL, Sydney.

The awards programme comprised ten categories across the key areas of health design and built environment. The prestigious Lifetime Leadership Award was won by Mr. Edwin Wong.

Click here for complete information on all the Academy Awards 2015 winners

EDWIN WONG JPB. Arch. (N.Z.); FNZIA; FHKIA received Academy's Lifetime Leadership Award 2015

Lifetime Leader:  Mr Edwin Wong

Awarded by the Academy every year to a healthcare leader and visionary who has shown an ongoing, lifelong commitment to enhancing the health, wellbeing and quality of people’s lives through their dedication to healthcare design, the award recognises the human and personal qualities needed to push back the boundaries of progress and inspire future generations.

The award was announced during the Gala Academy Awards Dinner at the 11th Design & Health World Congress & Exhibition in Hong Kong, held from 15-19th July, and presented by the Academy’s founder Prof. Alan Dilani together with former Lifetime Leadership Award winners, Prof Ian Forbes.

Mr Edwin Wong, the winner of Design and Health Lifetime Leadership Award 2015, is a visionary leader in healthcare design in Hong Kong. He was born in 1926, New Zealand and obtained a Bachelor of Architecture from Auckland University, New Zealand. He is a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Architecture and the Hong Kong Institute of Architecture. He received the Royal Institute of British Architects Bronze Medal for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital project, Kowloon, HK, and the silver medal from HKIA as the architect for the Kowloon Hospital project. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, as the Government’s Hospital Chief Architect, he oversaw the development of many hospital development projects to meet Hong Kong’s urgent needs. He is a source of inspiration for future generation.

Click here to view the video of the receipt of the Lifetime Leadership Award.

New World Health Design is Published!

Restructuring World Health Design to strengthen our vision

In 1998 the International Academy for Design and Health launched the world’s first journal focused on design and health, along with a website dedicated to the developmentof knowledge in this field. Since then the journal and the Academy have provided an arenafor the exchange of knowledge between researchers and practitioners to stimulate debate across our community from industry, government and academia. For the past seven years the journal has highlighted the latest projects and research and critically reviewed the state of knowledge within the field of design and health.

 The Academy has now decided to restructure the content of the journal to provide a more wide-ranging presentation of successful case study project from industry combined with scientific review of interdisciplinary research projects. The future goal of the journal should be to increase its academic credibility and research content. We are also discussing broadening its scope to include more on innovation and change across the broad context for the built infrastructure, especially the evolving relationship between services, technology and infrastructure.

Download and read more….

Australian Healthcare Design 2000-2015 launched

Click here to order your copy

Design & Health China 2014 attracts global speakers in Beijing

View the Final Programme

The Design & Health China 2014 International Symposium organised by the International Academy for Design & Health and Spire Coris in partnership with Beijing University of Civil Engineering & Architecture, was successfully held at the Marco Polo Parkside Hotel in Beijing, from 30 October - 1 November.

Dedicated to exploring global salutogenic perspectives on the creation of a healthy society in China, the event explored how the quality of the built environment affects our health, wellbeing and quality of life, bringing together interdisciplinary world experts to share their knowledge in the creation of a new salutogenic vision for a healthy China in 2020.

Click here to view the speaker's presentations or on the image to view the final programme. A slideshow of images from the event can also be viewed.