Redesigning Domesticity: Creating Homes for the Elderly

Sally Stewart , Deputy Head of the Mackintosh School of Architecture at the Glasgow School of Art, highlights how nurturing a sense of ‘home’ can be a key ingredient in the creation of successful accommodation for the elderly and those with dementia. What, however, sets a ‘home’ apart from mere housing provision, and how can architects engender it? Stewart looks at some recent projects in the UK, Japan and the Netherlands in search of the answer.     

Can technology reduce health care costs?

It seems obvious to try to develop substitute medical technologies that are less costly than those which they replace, yet which produce the same or better clinical results. However, new technologies seldom entirely replace existing technologies, so is the concept of a substitute technology unrealistic? The paper examines this idea in the context of medical devices covering the following points: cost assessment; technology assessment; effect of technology on health care costs; cost of medical errors; and future developments     

再设计 首届BIAD青年创意设计大赛

<正>迈入北京市建筑设计研究院以下简称北京院,BIAD)已十多个春秋,作为一名青年建筑设计师在一线战斗也十载有余,随着一些作品的落成,大院里的青葱岁月也渐渐褪去。在向不惑之年迈进的途中,有幸当选北京院的团委书记,面对大院的青年工作,不得不反省,很想青春从头来过,很想为大院里更年轻的青年设计师们创造些再设计青春的机会。大院人才辈出,另一层面上说,论资排辈现象也是不少。青年设计师在大院承揽的大型工程设计中鲜     

Day care center characteristics and children's respiratory health

Day care centers provide an important exposure arena with potential harmful health effects for children. This study has linked health effect data from a survey among 942 3-5-year-old Oslo children with information on day care center characteristics collected during inspection of the 175 day care centers these children attended. The aim of the study was to estimate associations between dampness problems and other building characteristics and several respiratory health outcomes. Dampness problems (sign of molds, water leakage, damage to floor/wall) were observed in 51% of the day care centers. In multiple logistic regression analyses none of the studied symptoms and diseases (nightly cough, blocked or runny nose without common cold, wheeze, heavy breathing or chest tightness, the common cold, tonsillitis/pharyngitis, otitis media, bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma, and allergic rhinitis) were systematically associated with dampness problems or type of ventilation in day care centers. None of the studied indicators of day care center exposures were found to have a clear effect on day care children's respiratory health. Even so this study does not rule out negative health effects of day care center exposures. The study demonstrates that population-based studies of these relations are demanding with regard to assessment of exposure and health outcomes. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Simple and easy-to-register indicators of exposures like dampness problems and type of ventilation assessed in 175 day care centers were not related to respiratory health among 3-5-year-old Norwegian children attending the day care centers. The study does not rule out negative health effects of day care center exposures, but demonstrates methodological challenges needed to be addressed in studies of health effects of the day care environment.