Experts from China, U.S. to discuss improving healthcare facility design

Architecture and planning experts from China and the U.S. will discuss collaborations aimed at improving healthcare design during a public, one-day conference 2 - 5 p.m. Oct. 25, 2011 at the Texas A&M College of Architecture’s Wright Gallery.

Hosted by the Center for Health Systems and Design and sponsored by the China – U.S. Relations Conference, the conversation will revolve around three themes: healthcare design and research, the environment and aging, and healthy communities and cities.

The Wright Gallery is located on the second floor of the Langford Architecture Center’s Building A on the Texas A&M campus.

“Health industries in both China and the U.S. face significant challenges,” said event chairman George J. Mann, the Ronald Skaggs and Joseph Sprague Endowed Chair of Health Facilities Design at the Texas A&M Department of Architecture. “This conference will bring together leading researchers and practitioners in health environment design and planning to discuss the most pressing healthcare issues related to the built environment and establish a framework for future collaborations.”

Panelists will include researchers from Southeast University in Nanjing, China, Texas A&M, policy makers from the Ministry of Health for the People’s Republic of China and professionals from leading healthcare design firms in both countries.

The meeting, coordinated by Texas A&M Department of Architecture faculty members Zhipeng Lu and Xuemei Zhu, will include a presentation by stakeholders about ongoing and future collaborations and a roundtable discussion in which panelists will identify areas of common interest and funding opportunities for developing and formalizing partnerships.

Participants from China include:

• Yu Chen, associate professor, School of Architecture, Southeast University, Nanjing, China;
• Xiaoqun Huang, director, Division of Healthcare Design and Research, Institute of Project Planning and Research, Beijing
• Baoshan Li, associate editor-in-chief, Journal of Chinese Hospital Architecture & Equipment, executive chair, China Hospital Construction Conference;
• Alex Wang, vice president, HKS Inc.,
• Kai Wang, vice president, RTKL
• Gang Yu, associate professor, School of Architecture, Southeast University and
• Hongbiao Zhu, deputy director, Department of Planning and Finance, Ministry of Health, People’s Repulic of China.

Participants from the Texas A&M College of Architecture faculty include:

• Kirk Hamilton , director, Center for Health Systems & Design, professor of architecture, co-editor, Health Environments Research & Design Journal;
• Chang-Shan Huang, associate professor of landscape architecture;
• Joe McGraw , professor emeritus, Department of Architecture;
• Chanam Lee , associate professor of urban planning;
• Zhipeng Lu, lecturer, Department of Architecture;
• Tom Regan , professor of architecture and
• Mardelle Shepley, director, Center for Health Systems & Design,
• professor of architecture.
• Xuemei Zhu , assistant professor of architecture.

Peter Trice, vice president of the Innova Group, which develops solutions for public, private and academic healthcare systems, will also join in the discussion.

In the fall 2010 Architecture-For-Health studio and lecture series, students are designing an eye hospital in Punay, China with counterparts in China and Oklahoma, and learning about changing Chinese health care conditions.

For more information, contact event chairman George J. Mann, gmann@arch.tamu.edu , or 979.845.7856.

- Posted: Oct. 19, 2011 -

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