Author Description

Design is widely recognised as the key to improving the quality of the built environment. This well-illustrated book comprises 15 chapters written by leading practitioners, clients, academics and other experts, and presents the latest thinking on what design quality is and how to achieve it. For design practitioners and their clients alike, the book provides evidence to justify greater focus on, and investment in, design. It summarises the benefits that arise from good design - such as, civic pride in the urban environment, the stimulation of urban regeneration, corporate identity, occupant productivity and health in offices, improved learning outcomes in schools, better patient recovery rates in hospitals, as well as reduced environmental impact. And it illustrates these benefits through case study examples.Eight chapters focus on case studies of exemplary buildings in particular sectors - offices, schools, housing, and hospitals - and explain why and how they came to be designed, and the design qualities they exhibit. Jon Rouseof CABE offers ten case studies where organisations have deliberately invested in their buildings to demonstrate their belief in good design, as well as to raise their profile and improve staff recruitment and retention. Richard Feilden of Feilden Clegg Bradley presents some exemplary schools and identifies the key factors they share. Terry Wyatt of Hoare Lea & Partners describes the design of three office buildings where concerns for staff comfort, productivity and well-being were used to decide where and what to build. Dickon Robinson of the Peabody Trust uses three affordable-housing projects to show how a bespoke design-led approach extracts the full potential of a site and contributes to a lasting legacy of attractive housing. Paul Wheeler of DEGW discusses the development of the Housing Quality Indicators. Matthew Carmona of University College London examines six urban design projects and identifies the principles that appear to correl