The Design of Happiness

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Van Horn, Erin J.

• Design for health and wellness is an emerging area within the design field based in the principles of environmental psychology. This subsection of design takes a number of concepts into consideration including ergonomics and comfort, accessibility, emotional
  design, pleasure with products, biophilic design, as well as the functionality, aesthetics, and character of the built environment. This thesis investigates the process of how to evaluate, research, and design a built environment for health and wellness. A case study was made of 3 spaces within the
  Student Union Building on the University of Alberta campus and a redesign of these spaces has been created. Consideration was given to function and aesthetics, including the furniture, finishes and needs of each space for the student user group. The Fitwel Certification is a rubric utilized by Stantec (a world-wide Architectural and Engineering company) and many other companies to evaluate the health impact that an office building has on the employees in that space. This rubric was adapted for campus buildings and used as a guideline for the evaluation of the Student Union Building. Data
  from a survey of students was also utilized to shape the design choices for the SUB redesign.

• Date created

  2019-09-04

• Subjects / Keywords

  • industrial design
  • interior design
  • health
  • wellness
  • student health
  • environmental psychology
  • sustainable furniture
  • spaces
  • Fitwell assessment
  • ergonomics and comfort
  • accessibility
  • emotional design
  • pleasurable products
  • biophilic design

• Type of Item

  Research Material

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-y538-as56

• License

  Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International