Dozens of healthcare professionals convened with LSU faculty, students, and administrators at the LSU College of Art & Design this weekend to investigate how professionals in the social sciences, art and design, business, and healthcare fields may work together to develop new models for more effective and efficient public health outcomes.

The Design, Health & Wellness Symposium was organized by LSU College of Art & Design administrators to initiate a discussion around the development of a laboratory connecting faculty and students from LSU with leading design professionals and healthcare service providers. The new initiative, tentatively titled the Louisiana Design, Health & Wellness Lab, will provide a collaborative setting for faculty and students from all disciplines to conduct research and develop innovative design responses to emerging trends in healthcare design, management, and administration. Participating students will gain first-hand exposure and experience in this important area of design studies.

Healthcare—broadly considered to include content, cost, public access, facility design, and best practices—occupies a substantial place in the nation’s current discourse. The focus of the Design, Health & Wellness Lab will be on creating timely working relationships, through studio investigations, research, case studies, and on-site experiences, linking the design arts with professionals in design, human sciences, and wellness/healthcare administration. The expected outcome will include more innovative, sustainable approaches to exterior and interior design strategies, management practices, and healthcare policies.

“Coupled with the fact that many LSU College of Art & Design faculty and alumni are leaders in the healthcare design fields, this initiative will provide opportunities for design students to specialize in areas related to healthcare, giving them a competitive edge for growing demands in these areas of professional practice,” commented Lake Douglas, associate dean of research and development at the LSU College of Art & Design. “Our first step was to invite these design professionals, community leaders, and medical professionals to campus to discuss how this academic initiative could take shape.”

Symposium participants (listed below) were divided into groups to explore the initiative, identify supporting programs and activities, and create partnerships among the academy, profession, and industry.

“The discussions during the symposium were incredibly successful due to the diverse cross-section of participants—from college students, faculty, and members of our university community to design professionals from HKS, Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, WHLC, Sizeler Thompson Brown, GraceHebert, and CDI Solutions and representatives from Our Lady of the Lake, Pennington Biomedical Research, Woman’s Hospital, and more,” said Marsha Cuddeback, director of the LSU School of Interior Design.

“The LSU Design, Health & Wellness Symposium was a launching pad for bringing the College of Art & Design to the next level,” stated LSU interior design alumnus Jennifer Mitchell, associate at Sizeler Thompson Brown Architects in New Orleans. “I envision this fresh idea bringing all of the college’s four disciplines—architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and art—together in a renewed sense of collaboration and idea generation.”

Learn more about the LSU College of Art & Design at design.lsu.edu, and read more about how LSU’s art and design alumni work in the areas of health and wellness in the summer 2016 issue of Quad magazine.

Symposium Participants

• Kathleen Bogaski, Professional in Residence, LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture
• Rex Cabaniss, AIA, Principal, WHLC Architecture
• Charles Cadenhead, FAIA, FACHA, FCCM, Senior Medical Planner, EYP Architecture & Engineering
• John Campbell, John Campbell Design Assoc., LLC, Professional in Residence, LSU School of Interior Design
• Christine Cangelosi, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Eskew+Dumez+Ripple
• Marsha Cuddeback, Ruth Z. McCoy Professor in Interior Design and Director, LSU School of Interior Design
• Michael Desmond, PhD, Director of Graduate Studies, LSU College of Art & Design and Professor, LSU School of Architecture
• Lake Douglas, PhD, Associate Dean Research & Development, LSU College of Art & Design and Professor, LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture
• Matthew Edmonds, ASID, LEED AP, CDI Solutions and Professional in Residence, LSU School of Interior Design
• Eduardo Facundus, MD
• Taylor Fehmel, Second-Year MLA Candidate, LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture
• Marwan Ghandour, Professor and Director, LSU School of Architecture
• Cecile Guin, Director, Office of Social Service Research and Development, LSU School of Social Work
• Robert Holton, Assistant Professor, LSU School of Architecture
• Xiaoman Ji, Second-Year MLA Candidate, LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture
• Thomas Karam, Senior Instructor, Department of Marketing, LSU Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute, and Senior Instructor, LSU Flores MBA Program
• Angela Keller, AAHID, CHID, Facility Design Coordinator, Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center
• Maura Kepper, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Contextual Risk Factors Lab, Pennington BioMedical Research Center
• Rick Libscomb, AIA, ACHA, Principal, WHLC Architecture
• Jennifer Mitchell, AAHID CHID, EDAC, Director of Interior Design, Sizeler Thompson Brown Architects
• D’Ann Morris, Executive Director, LSU Student Health Center
• Rod Parker, Professor and Director, LSU School of Art
• Kriste Cronan Rigby, IIDA, ASID, Partner, Interior Designer, GraceHebert Architects
• Mark Ripple, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Partner, Director of Operations, Eskew+Dumez+Ripple
• TL Ritchie, Associate Professor, LSU School of Interior Design
• Lou Sachs, President, Anchor Health Properties
• Stan Shelton, Senior Vice President of Planning, Development and Construction, Woman’s Hospital
• Melinda Solomon, PhD, Director, School of Kinesiology, LSU College of Human Sciences & Education
• Jeff Stouffer, Executive Vice President/Global Health Director, HKS Architects
• Antonio Tejeda, Third-year BArch Candidate, LSU School of Architecture
• Alkis Tsolakis, Dean, LSU College of Art & Design and Professor, LSU School of Architecture
• Casey Weisler, Fourth-Year BID Candidate, LSU School of Interior Design
• Pei Yu, Third-Year BArch Candidate, LSU School of Architecture