Prof, former student listed with top ten in Healthcare Design

A Texas A&M College of Architecture professor and former student were honored by Healthcare Design magazine editors in their annual list of iindividuals and organizations who made the most significant mark in healthcare design in the past year.

Among the publication’s 11 honorees in the list, the [HCD 10] (http://www.healthcaredesignmagazine.com/article/3rd-annual-hcd-10-winners-are) , were George J. Mann, the Ronald L. Skaggs Endowed Professor of Health Facilities Design and Upali Nanda, vice president and director of research at [HKS, Inc.] (http://www.hksinc.com/) Nanda earned a [Ph.D. in architecture] (http://dept.arch.tamu.edu/graduate/phd/) degree at Texas A&M in 2005.

Mann, Nanda and their fellow honorees will be recognized at the Healthcare Design Conference Nov. 14-17 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

Members of the 2015 list were chosen by the magazine’s editors from pools of nominees in 10 categories in a wide range of professions associated with healthcare design.

George J. Mann , recognized in the list’s educator category, was referred to “as the grandfather/godfather/dean of healthcare design education in the U.S.” in an HCD 10 nomination, said Jennifer Kovacs Silvis, Healthcare Design executive editor.

In September 2014, Mann responded to the mounting Ebola crisis in Africa by leading graduate students’ [research and design] (http://one.arch.tamu.edu/news/2014/9/22/portable-ebola-clinics/) of rapidly deployable modular isolation units for Ebola patients and others suffering from communicable diseases. The 13-day project received national and international media attention.

Students in Mann’s 2014 studios also [designed] (http://one.arch.tamu.edu/news/2014/4/24/nigerian-hospital-designs/) a 400-bed women’s and children’s hospital for the proposed Thompson & Grace Medical City in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria.

His students also designed an [ambulatory care and sports medicine satellite facility] (http://one.arch.tamu.edu/news/2014/12/3/sports-facility-designs/) for Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Dallas.

The projects are just three of the more than 700 research and design studio projects for sites throughout the world that Mann has led since establishing Texas A&M’s Architecture-For-Health studio in 1966.

Mann, already the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions throughout his career, was presented with the [Lifetime Leadership Award] (http://one.arch.tamu.edu/news/2014/7/14/global-healthcare-teaching-career/) from the International Academy for Design and Health in July 2014.

He was the first holder of the Texas A&M Skaggs-Sprague Endowed Chair of Health Facilities Design, former director of the International Union of Architects/Public Health Group, cofounder and former president of Global University Programs in Healthcare Architecture and founder and advisory board chairman of The Resource Planning & Development Group.

Healthcare Design’s editors tabbed Upali Nanda , a published author, speaker and researcher with extensive experience designing and implementing research projects, for the HCD 10’s researcher category.

“Throughout her career — spanning from a large healthcare art firm to [The Center For Health Design] (http://www.healthdesign.org/) to global architecture firm HKS — Nanda has maintained a laser-sharp focus on quality research, making sure it can be translated into practice,” said Healthcare Design senior editor Anne DiNardo in a Feb. 3, 2015 post.

Nanda’s 2014 achievements included the development of Design Diagnostic, a research methodology combining environmental psychology and computational design tools that allows teams to conduct diagnostics of a design space in less than three days.

A study using Design Diagnostic methods conducted in [Promedica Medical Tower] (http://www.promedica.org/) in Toledo, Ohio led to key insights in the facility’s workflow, location of supplies and nourishment areas.

In a grant project awarded by the Academy of Architecture for Health Foundation,

Nanda and Zofia Rybkowski, Texas A&M assistant professor of construction science, developed a comprehensive value analysis framework for lean design and project delivery by studying the construction process at Akron Children’s Hospital.

Nanda, also the executive director of HKS’ [Center for Advanced Design and Education] (http://cadreresearch.org/) , is chairwoman of the advisory council for the [REDCenter at American Art Resources] (http://www.americanartresources.com/redcenter.php) , co-chairwoman of the Environmental Design Research Association’s Certificate of Research Excellence [committee] (http://www.edra.org/content/edra-core) and a member of the American Institute of Architects’ Design & Health Research Working Group.

She is also on the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture advisory board and an editorial board member for the [Health Environments Research & Design Journal] (http://her.sagepub.com/) and the [Journal of Hospital Administration] (http://www.sciedu.ca/journal/index.php/jha) .