Interview Highlights with David Allison, Director of Graduate Studies in Architecture + Health and Alumni Distinguished Professor of Architecture
By Anjali Joseph and Lisa Hoskins
Prof. David Allison with Prof. Byron Edwards and the graduate students in Architecture + Health
How has the Clemson Architecture + Health graduate program changed over time?
The Clemson A+H graduate program was formed in 1968 officially with a 10-year grant from the South Carolina Department of Mental Health. The director, George Means, came to academia after working in architectural practice creating buildings associated with the federal Hill-Burton Act. The early years of the program centered around the formation of South Carolina’s community mental health plan after passage of the federal Community Mental Health Act. The studio supported the design of three community mental health facilities which are still in operation today, one of which was published in Architectural Record.
David Allison started as a student of the Clemson A+H program during a time of transition when the studio started taking on smaller community health initiatives. After graduation, David worked in architectural practice in California for several years, then returned to Clemson in 1990 when Professor Means retired. Over the last 30 years, the A+H program has changed from a one-person shop into a more structured curriculum with five full time architecture faculty and researchers plus a nursing adjunct faculty, and a robust research enterprise, the Center for Health Facilities Design and Testing.
What is the value of architectural education with a focus on health?
As Professor Means used to say, “Everything from a doghouse to a hospital is a health care facility. All buildings support or impact health in one way or another.”
A focus on health is a good focus for architectural practice in general. Workplaces, education spaces, health facilities, etc. all share the same concerns. Whether you go back to Vitruvius or feng shui the built environment is designed to support health and well-being. Life and safety are foundational for the architectural profession and licensure. We just do it more explicitly in the Architecture + Health program.
What is the structure of Clemson’s Architecture + Health graduate program?
The structure of the A+H Graduate program includes over forty hours of coursework dedicated specifically to Architecture and Health, including the following classes:
- History and Theory of Architecture and Health helps students to understand the relationship between history, health care and architecture. From the holistic health of ancient Greece to middle age miasma theory to industrialization and germ theory, the theoretical foundations of health care environments uniquely influence architecture. Research in recent years focuses more on patient centered care and re-examines the role of nature. Students need to learn from history and adapt to current times.
- Health Policy, Planning, and Administration teaches students about the contemporary context of health care and practice. They learn to solve problems related to larger current issues such as evolving demographics, changing technology, reimbursement, policy, a growing body of research, and health-related client expectations.
- Architectural Programming and Pre-design is about problem seeking. Students learn a dialogue-based approach with interdisciplinary and collaborative teams to first define then solve problems.
- Health Facilities Planning and Design tunnels into critical functional areas and foundations of health care building design. This is a large domain of knowledge at an introductory level since it is always evolving and changing. This class is for understanding core issues, asking good questions, learning where to find knowledge and resources, and educating clients on best practices.
- Four A+H specific design studios focus on a variety of health-related problems at different scales (city, street, building, detail) for different populations.
Click here for more detailed curriculum information at Clemson Architecture + Health.
What changes in the profession need to be reflected in the A+H education?
The healthcare architect is no longer accepted as an expert. We must build on our knowledge base, understand its limitations, understand what it tells us, and learn how to translate and apply it. Some people misuse Evidence Based Design (EBD) as only a marketing tool. We work to prepare emerging professionals to use an ever-expanding body of knowledge in collaboration with clients. A+H professionals need to be more than passive recipients of information. They must engage in the intellectual exchange of knowledge.
What skills are essential to cultivate in students?
Students need to seek and apply knowledge to open-ended and complex problems that have no singular answer. There is an increasing need for speed, but the pace of research is slower than pace of design and construction. The industry has made strides in how to deliver the technical part of buildings faster (BIM), but needs to focus on how to integrate research knowledge into the design process in the constraints of time for complex problems that healthcare architecture faces.
A new problem with emerging technology is information overload. Students can find information more easily, but it is hard to select the best knowledge, since both good and bad are available.
What is the vision you have for the Clemson A+H program with regard to integrating research?
Research in architecture in the past has been highly divorced from professional education, physically and culturally, etc. We want to make a deliberate effort to keep the research enterprise and professional enterprise closer together, so research can inform practice more fluidly and practice could influence and direct research, as well as help translate research knowledge for practice.
Time is the limiting factor. Physically co-locating researchers and professional students provides better opportunities for interface.
Where do Clemson A+H students go after graduation?
Clemson A+H graduates enter health care practice at an accelerated level of ability and learning. They typically have greater responsibility and greater opportunities starting out, are compensated accordingly, and recognized in firms. Our graduates tend to rise rapidly in seniority and have an impact in the profession. Not all students go into specialized practice. Some go to smaller firms and do a cross section of work. Most are aggressively recruited and valued at firms of varying sizes that focus on health care.
Clemson A+H has about 260-270 alumni now, one of the largest and most comprehensive in terms of curriculum and course offerings. While the program graduates an average of eight students a year, there is a demand for more than that, but the program at its current size maintains a strong identity and culture.
For more information on the Clemson Architecture + Health Graduate Program, click here.
