thred.org

blizard building

Queen Mary Institute of Cell and Molecular Science
by Will Alsop 2005

Building for the Mind
Evaluating the cognitive effects of
workplace architecture

Powered by increased efficiency and consumer demand, Governments are now prioritising creativity and innovation as essential prerequisites for economic growth, placing new demands of flexibility and competition on the human body. Inspired by Marshall McLuhan’s notion of acoustic space,
this thesis questions whether the body has evolved to keep pace with such technological pressures. In the process of evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of ergonomic design, from the static nature of Taylorism to the transhumanist potential of ubiquitous computing, a final workplace design methodology aims to support how environmental stimuli may be used to enhance creative cognition.

googleplex

Google Zurich by Camenzind Evolution 2008
An article from the Walll Street Journal has provided a timely focus for my thesis:

"Today we are witnessing the advent of 24-hour knowledge factories. Spreading out across the globe with clusters of three or four facilities, each six to eight hours apart, was an idea first limited to 24-hour call centers and support staff for global communications networks. Now, thanks to more robust information technology and a growing acceptance of offshoring, the concept is feasible for a much broader range of work."
Dr. Amar Gupta The 24-hour Workplace,
Walll Street Journal Sep 14, 2007

While offshoring staff may be an option for many communications and manufacturing companies in the future, workplace environments in health, education and retail remain rooted to servicing localized communities. Therefore an understanding of how lighting technology can be applied to maximise the health and productivity of staff is essential. The key investigation for the thesis is specifically: How can architectural design assist the human body adapt cognitively to the 24-hour workplace? Prior to Henry Ford evolving the workplace from an 8hour space to a 3x8 (24) hour space, hospitals have been operating such shiftwork for centuries. This is where my research begins...

Google HQ (2005) by Clive Wilkinson - visually dynamic, yet still adhearing to Taylorist norms.

salutogenic design

Rikshospitalet University Hospital by Arvid Ottar (2004)
Much research has confirmed how hospitals with impractical layouts can stress patients and yet many new hospital designs still integrate unecessarily complex traffic patterns. Bad signage, blind staircases and dark corridors are just some of the recurring themes. The Rikshospitalet University Hospital however facilitates refreshingly good access and orientation. Inspired by the theme of a village, the hospital is laid out along an internal mainstreet punctuated by fountains, lampposts and sculptures. These devices not only visually stimulate patients but also act as reference points. At the end of the street is a vibrantly colouredstained glass, and a skylight spans the length of the main street, allowing soft light to bathe the corridors.

C02 Heatlh Centre by Ishii Kazuhiro (2000)
The concept of "Design Therapeutics", a confluence of Architecture and Neuroscience, i.e. Buildings Designed for Health, is becoming increasingly relevant in healthcare design. Traditionally however, heatlhcare architects use nature to provide stand-alone biophilic content, thus the buildings themselves are rarely therapeutic. This norm is challenged in projects like Kazuhiro's Co2 health centre, where real trees become integral to the buildings structure, erupting into the internal space itself to anchor a tensile fabric roof system.

Pioneer Health Centre by S. Williamson & I. Pearse (1935)
One of the most refreshing takes on design therapeutics materialised at the Pioneer Heatlh Centre, London. Although now converted into loft apartments, the prime motication for Williamson & Pearse wasconduct an experiment into the effect of environment on health. The Pioneer Health Centre (or Peckham Health Centre) was a bold departure in the medical field concentrating on a preventative (salutogenic), rather than a curative (pathogenic) approach to health. A giant swimming pool, covered by a glazed roof, was at the heart of the Centre. This, combined with long stretches of almost uninterrupted windows allowed light in.

Finsbury Health Centre by Berthold Lubetkin (1938)
Similar to Berthold Lubetkin's Finsbury Health Centre three years later, light was considered key to a healthier life. The windows could slide back to maximise the members' exposure to light and fresh air. Floors were covered in cork so that children could wander around barefoot, and other surfaces were left exposed and unadorned.

Change of Heart

Change of Heart by Marina Nicollier (2008)

From the project description:
The human body responds to its spatial and environmental surroundings in very subtle ways. Our most basic reactions to our environment can be read, essentially, in our vital signs; yet as many of these phenomena are subtle enough to be easily overlooked without some sort of monitoring device, they have been too often dismissed as fleeting emotional and sensorial effects that have little impact on our physiological system as a whole.

These qualities can do much more. They can act as an architectural base for a very important body of research, expanding beyond the limited range of possibilities imposed on them by existing models of medical environments.
To perform a test-run for these propositions, Nicollier has designed a "cardiology research facility adjacent to two major medical institutions in Mexico City."
You would wander through the building, hooked up to electrocardiographs, every flutter of heart valve and sweat gland monitored by doctors from afar.