Reading on Evidence-Based Design for Healthcare

Submission Details

  • Submission date: 12.03.2025, 17:59 CET
  • Submission materials:
    • A presentation on the paper (max. 10 minutes). File name: Your group member’s last name delimited by _. Example: If your group consists of A. Einstein, M. Curie → einstein_curie.pdf. Upload link
    • Your peer-review efforts, as described below
  • Feedback Session: 05.03.2025 in class. Come prepared with a presentation draft and questions.
  • Presentation date: 12.03.2025 in class
  • Grading: Total of 100 points, 90 points for the presentation, 10 points for your review efforts. The presentation will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
    • The structure & clarity of the presentation
    • The presentation of the relevant background if required
    • The understanding and explanation of the methods
    • The critical assessment and interpretation of the results
    • Quality of the discussion on the impact of the paper’s results on architectural design
    • Your answers during the Q&A

Overview

In your first exercise, you are going to build an initial understanding of the scientific literature about evidence-based design in architecture. This exercise has three main learning objectives:

  • You will develop an in-depth understanding of a the topic covered in your chosen paper
  • You will learn/practice how to analyze and discuss scientific papers
  • You will learn how to engage in seminar-style discussions about the topics covered in your and in your peers papers You will present your paper in a 10-minute presentation, followed by a 5-minute Q&A. You will also actively participate in the Q&A of other groups and offer one to two questions to discuss.

Feedback Session

To boost your learning, we will hold a feedback session during the lecture of the 05.03.2025. Your group will receive individual feedback from the lecturers and TAs of the course in time-slots that we will announce before said lecture. In order for us to provide feedback, you are required to come up with a presentation draft. Also, please prepare your questions regarding the paper, such that we can make optimal use of the time. Note that this session is mandatory.

1.1 Reading Assignment (90 points)

In this exercise, you will work in groups of 2 students. You can choose a paper and group up with your classmates in this spreadsheet. In the columns Student 1-2 please indicate your name and email address, such that you can mutually get in touch. Please complete this process before the 04.03.2025 at 23:59.

The papers cover a variety of topics, some of them concerned with methodological contributions, others with experiments conducted in specific architectural environments like hospitals. Note that a paper can only be chosen once by one group, and the selection is first-come-first-serve.

You are also allowed to suggest a paper that is not on the list, but please get in touch with the instructors before doing so. If you choose your own paper, please add a row to the spreadsheet, analogous to the other papers, and fill in the details of the paper.

The following questions should guide your reading and presentation preparation:

  • What questions does the paper try to answer?
  • Which methods are used to answer the question, including statistical methods? If you are unfamiliar with some of the topics presented, please use the feedback sessions to clarify your questions.
  • What are the key results reported? How does it address the initial question?
  • What are the key design takeaway messages from this paper?
  • Be critical! What arguments in the paper require more evidence? Do you agree with the interpretation of the results, do you find the paper relevant for architectural design?

1.2 Review Assignment (10 points)

To encourage discussion between groups, your group will also read one of your peers’ chosen papers and come up with one to two questions that you will ask during the Q&A. Please choose one paper presentation that you’d like to review by choosing the corresponding group in the column Peer Review in the spreadsheet. Asking thoughtful and topically relevant questions will necessitate a good understanding of your peers’ chosen paper, which we will consider in our grading.