SENSE-SENSITIVE DESIGN
Teaching can learn from paediatric healthcare design
Richard Mazuch, an architect, the director of Design, Research and Innovation for Arcadis, and the founder of TH!NK – the research and development arm of IBI (with whom Arcadis merged in late 2022), discusses some of the key learnings from paediatric healthcare design – in both physical and mental healtcare settings – for areas such as teaching, and vice-versa.
So, what is Paediatrics, and what is Pedagogy, and how can one better inform the other? Paediatrics is essentially the branch of medicine dealing with the health and medical care of infants, children, and adolescents – from birth up to the age of 18. On the other hand, Pedagogy is simply defined as the method and practice of teaching, which incorporates teaching approaches, teaching theory, feedback, and ultimate assessment. Crucially, healthcare has much to offer multiple sectors in terms of knowledge, child-centric focus, ameliorating outcomes, health/safety guideline documents and wellbeing, best practice, products, insights, design interventions, and legislation. An insight into Paediatrics, physical and mental health development, the 7 ages of childhood, and cerebral and sensory maturation, can usefully help develop more refined education tools and new models of teaching.
Healthcare design tools Healthcare design tools such as Sense- Sensitive Design, Design Prescription, Emotional Mapping, and the AEDET and ASPECT evaluation toolkits, underpinned by Evidence Based Research, can usefully
Some of the areas within paediatric health and development that can inform Pedagogy.
benefit Pedagogy, as, for example, in the 2023 research paper by Rebecca McLaughlan – ‘Engaging young people in architectural research. Three visual methods for understanding the impact of the built environment on children’s wellbeing’. Insights into post-COVID paediatric
neurological symptoms and mental health conditions can be of considerable value, as can an intimate understanding of developing neural landscapes in the delivery of new models of teaching such as Neurodidactics and Neuroeducation. Where ‘Best to see Best Practice’ than in children’s hospital schools such as those at GOSH (Great Ormond Street Hospital), UCH (University College Hospital), and the best CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) units, such as The Pears Maudsley Centre for Children and Young People in London, that assess and treat children and young people with emotional, behavioural /and mental health difficulties, which are so prevalent post-COVID? Using significant paediatric knowledge and insights, predominantly from healthcare settings, Evidence Based Research through TH!NK (the research and development arm of IBI, with whom
Arcadis merged in late 2022), and global insights including Snoezelen therapy and Synaesthesia, Neurodiversity will broaden our understanding of the child, and how those insights will inform the decisions we may make at all levels of pedagogy that can make material differences to the integration of all our children. This includes the key stages of inclusivity, ranging from the Macro to the Micro, from: n Macro: Health and wellbeing embedded at the centre of urban masterplanning, integrating children at all of the 7 ages of childhood at all levels.
n Meso: School initiatives to be actively integrated with the community beyond the classroom.
n Micro: New blueprint guidance for teachers and tutors to actively help curate and choreograph optimal education environments.
n Neuro: Focus on state of Mind, Neural landscapes, and Nature v Nurture.
The seven ages of childhood We can only respect the needs of the child if we understand who they are. Children are highly demanding of their immediate environment. Medically, there are seven ages of childhood – ranging from the child before birth, to the newly born child, the infant, the pre-school, elementary and high school child, and the adolescent undergoing that difficult transition to adulthood. An understanding of each group – in terms of their physiological, psychological, and sensory development – is essential if we are to design age- appropriate teaching, and indeed healthcare, environments that impact positively on the learning processes. In the past, some care and teaching regimes and environments have actually harmed the long-term health of children, with damage to the eyes, hearing, and respiratory systems of infants, and to the self-esteem and mental health of adolescents. We draw on our extensive knowledge of evidence-based design to create healing environments for children of all ages –
August 2024 Health Estate Journal 55
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72
