The Center for Health Design is at the forefront of getting people to think and talk seriously about “evidence-based design,” which they define as “the process of basing decisions about the built environment on credible research to achieve the best possible outcomes.” In other words, designing places (buildings, gardens, and other spaces) for specific uses and specific populations based not just on one’s intuition or innate design sense, but on solid research. This becomes especially important when designing for people whose health and well-being is compromised, such as in hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care facilities.
Here’s an interesting blog posting from the CHD about this definition, with some great comments and discussion.
What do you think? Is this definition sufficient? What would you add, or how would you change it?