Over the past five years, Professor Emerita Doreen Balabanoff, MArch, PhD (Environmental Design, Design for Health, Inclusive Design) has been leading an international SSHRC-funded research project focused on design of the spaces and places for birth, entitled Transformational Change for Birth Environment Design. Research partners are faculty members at University of Florence, Italy (Architecture); Flinders University, Australia (Midwifery); Boston Architectural College, USA (Design for Human Health).
It is a project arising out of her practice-based PhD work – available at www.doreenbalabanoff.com. She is a co-founder of the Global Birth Environment Network www.gbedn.org and the Colour Research Society of Canada www.colourresearch.org
The project leaders state: The goal of the project is to inform and inspire architects, designers, and policy/planning people about better design for birth spaces and places. The project has relevance for women and their infants and families all across the world. There is a growing research community involved in the movement towards design that can make change for women’s health and wellbeing. In the fields of architecture and design there is a need to bring this agenda forward.
If you are interested, please visit www.transformingbirthspace.com for more information.
An exhibition at Open Space Gallery 49 McCaul St. will open on Oct 24, and the colloquium will take place Oct 25-28. A transdisciplinary roster of exceptional speakers from around the world will be present, and discussing the topic, aiming to prepare a policy document for international circulation.
Participants can purchase tickets for the conference through this URL: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/transforming-birthspace-a-global-colloquium-tickets-1485593703759?aff=oddtdtcreator
You are welcome to contact dbalabanoff@ocadu.ca and alisonfletcher@ocadu.ca (Conference Manager) with any inquiries.
The organizers would be delighted to have faculty share this project with students, and student volunteers helping at the exhibition and conference. Please send a message to Alison at alisonfletcher@ocadu.ca if you are interested.
Please note that designers from environmental design, architecture, industrial design, and other design disciplines, as well as artists, are welcome to participate.