Mann, OU colleagues lecture in China about healthcare design

The collaboration between design programs at Texas A&M University, top schools in China and at the University of Oklahoma continued during the week of Oct. 10, 2011 during a trip to China by George J. Mann, Texas A&M professor of architecture, and colleagues from OU.

The trip was part of Texas A&M’s Architecure-For-Health fall 2011 studio and lecture series, where Aggie designers and counterparts in China and at OU are designing an eye hospital in Puyang, China. Aggie and Sooner designers have been learning about China’s rapidly changing healthcare needs from experts during weekly lectures at the Wright Gallery that are viewed via webcast in Oklahoma.

During the China trip, Mann visited Southeast University in Nanjing, where he presented “Megatrends: Health as a World Issue.”

In Beijing, Mann, the Skaggs - Sprague Endowed Chair of Health Facilities Design, made a presentation at the Institute of Project Planning and Research, one of the largest health facilities design and construction firms in China, and to students and faculty at the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture. He also met with a representative of the U.S. National Science Foundation to discuss future research and design projects for China.

Mann traveled in China with James Patterson, OU College of Architecture associate dean, and Hepi Wachter, OU associate professor of interior design. Patterson and Wachter also presented lectures to Chinese design students, and the three reviewed the progress of the eye hospital designs.

The three groups of students, communicating through video teleconferencing, email, telephone and blogs, are being advised in their efforts by Beijing’s IPPR, HKS Inc. in Shanghai and Dallas; and Miles Associates in Oklahoma City. HKS has served as the advisory teaching firm to the Architecture for Health studio since 1973.