Hickok Cole joins the Institute for Health in the Built Environment
WASHINGTON DC – In March 2019 Hickok Cole officially joined a research consortium headquartered at the University of Oregon called the Institute for Health in the Built Environment. Members come from various backgrounds including architecture, engineering, academia, consumer goods and technology.
The Institute’s mission is to: develop new design concepts for the realization of healthy and sustainable inhabited space. We do this by forming unconventional collaborations that conduct research where architecture, biology, medicine, chemistry and engineering intersect and translate it into design practice through a consortium of invested industry partners with applied impact. This aligns perfectly with Hickok Cole’s own vision of doing work that matters.
The types of research this Institute undertakes is broad, it covers such varied topics as daylighting and sunlight’s effects on indoor microbiomes, circadian lighting and healthy aging, priobiotics and mechanical building systems and mass timber’s effect on human wellbeing, both physical and mental. For a full breakdown of the consortium’s work, as well as an overview on Hickok Cole’s research philosophy, please see a pdf of the 2018-2019 Build Health_Q3 Report.
The Institute’s yearly conference, Build Health, will be held in a few weeks in Portland, Oregon and we look forward to presenting the latest on both our mass timber projects and ongoing grant work for the DC’s Department of Energy and the Environment and the US Forest Service through the Wood Innovations grant program.
Previously, we wrote an ASID Transform grant to study the effect of plants versus free standing air filtration systems on carbon dioxide levels in a standard office building with the Institute. While this particular grant came very close to receiving funding, it did not move forward in 2018, we hope to revisit this experiment in future to increase the number of options for tenants inhabiting buildings with aging mechanical systems.
About Hickok Cole
Hickok Cole is a forward-focused design practice connecting bold ideas, diverse expertise, and partners with vision to do work that matters. Informed by research and fueled by creative rigor, we look beyond today’s trends to help our clients embrace tomorrow’s opportunities.
About the Institute for Health in the Built Environment
The Institute for Health in the Built Environment was founded by three research laboratories at the University of Oregon; Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory, Biology and the Built Environment Center, and Baker Lighting Lab. Formed in the spirit of this collaborative strategy, the Institute for Health in the Built Environment seeks to broaden the network of researchers and practitioners such that issues concerning health, comfort, and sustainability in the human ecosystem are addressed in a way that benefits our work, our community, and our planet.
For more information about this partnership please contact Melanie De Cola.