OCAD U hosts global colloquium to reimagine birth spaces

Leading global experts are gathering at OCAD University, from Oct. 24 to 27, to share insights, experiences and case studies for creating healthier and more supportive environments for childbirth.

Transforming Birthspace: A Global Colloquium is bringing together architects, designers, midwives and researchers who will show how design can reshape birth environments and contribute to better health and well-being for women, babies and families.

“People now understand that hospital-style birth rooms can impact the mind and body, affecting hormones that govern labour and birth. These spaces typically have a hospital bed as a focal point, are bright, white or pale with medical equipment. As a result, this promotes the message that women are ‘patients’ and that birth is a medical event,” explains OCAD U Professor Emerit Dr. Doreen Balabanoff, one of the colloquium organizers.

She has led the five-year international partnership research project, Transformational Change for Birth Environment Design, which has culminated in this global colloquium.

Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Connection grant, Dr. Balabanoff’s project is part of a larger transdisciplinary international network, the Global Birth Environment Design Network.

“My research shows that colour, light and materiality in birth spaces are powerful factors that can directly affect the processes of birth, how birth unfolds and the health and well-being of mothers and their babies,” explains Dr. Balabanoff. “That is why it is important for designers, developers, and health care leaders to pay close attention to how colour and light are used in birth environments.”

RESOURCE HUB LAUNCH, EXHIBITION AND POLICY PAPER

The five-day colloquium includes the official launch of a new online knowledge resource hub for designers and policymakers, a key outcome of Dr. Balabanoff’s research project. The hub will both inform and inspire changes in birth environment design worldwide.

The hub’s launch on Oct. 24, coincides with the opening of the exhibition, Transforming Birth through Architecture and Design, which will present transformative architectural design of birth spaces and places that challenge the status quo of clinical birth environments. This exhibition at Open Space Gallery, 49 McCaul St., is on view until Nov. 10.

Colloquium speakers and resulting discussions will contribute to the development of a policy paper on Oct. 28 aimed at increasing international awareness that the design of birth environments matters, not only during labour, but for the health and well-being of future generations.

KEYNOTE ADDRESSES

The colloquium takes place at OCAD U’s Waterfront campus, 130 Queens Quay Tower, Floor 4R from Oct. 25 to 27. In addition to presentations, there are three keynote speakers:

• Oct. 25: Dr. Saraswathi Vedam (Canada), an eminent midwifery researcher from the University of British Columbia, who will speak about her studies on respectful care and equity in birth.
• Oct. 25: Cheryllee Bourgeois, exemption Métis midwife and co-founder of Seventh Generation Midwives Toronto, who will share the story of the design of the Toronto Birth Centre, a groundbreaking urban birth centre led by Indigenous midwives.
• Oct. 26: Architect Marta Parra Casado (Spain), who will present her groundbreaking work on birth environment design ranging across public and private facilities, from hospitals to independent midwifery centres.

COLLOQUIUM HIGHLIGHTS

With speakers from more than 10 countries, including Nigeria, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, Australia, the United States, Canada, Italy, Switzerland and Denmark, Transforming Birthspace invites health care providers, architects, designers, and community members to imagine new possibilities for one of life’s most profound experiences: birth.

Among the themes are:

• Respectful Birth for Indigenous Families: Indigneous researchers and practitioners, including Dr. Rachel Olson (Canada) and midwife Melanie Briggs (Australia), will discuss the challenges Indigenous families face in childbirth and the importance of culturally grounded, community-led birth care and birth spaces.
• Designing Supportive Birth Environments: Architects Dr. Nicoletta Setola (Italy) and Dr. Lateef Ademola Lawal (Nigeria) will discuss how design, including room layouts, sensory elements, and connection to nature, can make birth spaces more human and supportive.
• Transformative Design in Action: Dual practice midwife/architects Anka Dür (Austria) and Deb Polzin Rozinberg (US) will talk about the interconnections between midwives and birth environment designers. Recent architectural graduate Grace McLean (Australia) will present projects that offer real-world examples of new and prospective women-centered birth space design.
• Impact of Birth Environments: The interconnectivity between mind, body and environment will be the focus of presentations by eminent researchers, including Dr. Maralyn Foureur (Australia) whose work focuses on how brain chemicals play a role in birth; Dr. Moshe Szyf (Canada), a leader in epigenetics research, who studies how the environment affects gene activity and long-term health; and Dr. James Olcese (US/Germany), whose groundbreaking work on the role of melatonin and light in labour processes is crucial for designers of birth spaces.
• Role of Artists in Birth Environment Design: Artist-researchers Esben Bala Skouboe (Denmark) and Martina Hynan (Ireland) will share how places, nature, and culture shape our experiences, and how we feel and make meaning in different spaces and moments in time. Through an interdisciplinary collaboration, Skouboe’s art/architecture studio created birth rooms focused on meaningful locales with atmospheres of nature. Hynan’s work has focused on how a deeply felt sense of place and culture needs renewed attention in maternity care in rural areas.

For registration and ticket information: visit the colloquium website.