Dak Kopec - Person-Centered Health Care Design

Disease, injury, or congenital disorders result in an inability to perform activities of daily living as effectively as others. Most of these activities take place within and are dependent upon the designed environment. This book presents the specialized area of person-centered health care design, which focuses on a persons design needs because of one or more health conditions and requires foundational knowledge pertaining to infection control, bio-physiology, neuroscience, and basic biomechanics.

Whether the designer has engaged in person- or condition-centered design, this book examines the causes that bring about health conditions, such as autoimmune disorders, chronic lung disease, muscular dystrophy, and neurological disorders, and the effects these have on a persons quality of life. Over forty various heath conditions are discussed in relation to assorted building typologiesschools, group homes, rehabilitation and habilitation centers, and moreto identify design solutions for modifying each environment to best accommodate and support a persons needs.

Dak Kopec encourages readers to think critically and deductively about numerous health conditions and how to best design for them. This book provides students and practitioners a foundational framework that supports the promotion of health, safety, and welfare as they pertain to a persons physiological, psychological, and sociological well-being.

Dak Kopecis an associate professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Dak has authored several books used by interior design educators, including three editions of Environmental Psychology for Design. He is a two-time Polsky Prize winner, is credited with researching, developing, and administering the first low-residency graduate program focused on designs for human health at the Boston Architectural College, and has been awarded honorary Fellowship to ASID (Hon.FASID).

Dak served as a visiting professor at the University of Hawaii with a joint position in architecture and medicine, was listed as a Fulbright Specialist, and subsequently served two terms as a Fulbright Reviewer. In 2017, Dak won IDECs Community Service Award for the design of a group home for people with developmental disabilities and early-onset dementia. Today, Dak is calling upon his diverse educational background in health sciences, psychology, and architecture to promote interdisciplinary and person-centered design.

Environmental design approaches promoting human-centric solutions engender spaces to improve quality of life. Bridging medical and environmental design, Person-Centered Health Care Designintroduces a specialty where designers develop knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and disease pathology vis-a-vis designed environments. The books coverage of designs intersections with health offers a significant foundation across various scales. The book presents crosscutting knowledge to designers focused on preventing health conditions, aiding in rehabilitation, or assisting those with altered capacities due to health conditions, and suggests processes for those expanding their professional skills.

Person-Centered Health Care Designattends to the necessary point that people vary and healthcare conditions are diverse and that wellness involves physical, psychological, emotional health. It follows that healthcare environment solutions must acknowledge and strategically nurture patients where they are in their healing or health management process. Now more than ever, thoughtful, attendant environments are a prescription for people just as drug and therapy regimens are. Person-Centered Health Care Designimportantly links medical conditions with built environment interventions that can lend important support to people in a time of great need.

Dak Kopec

First published 2021

by Routledge

605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158

and by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2021 Taylor & Francis

The right of Dak Kopec to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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