What is Evidence Based Design Journal?

Driven by enormous advances in ICT, the world is experiencing a period of unprecedented social change—one that has placed extraordinary demands on our built environments and on our understanding about how they work, for the people that actively occupy them. The impact of social interaction on our health and sense of well-being is now also recognized as a significant driver in the design of new environments and the need for ongoing research.

Although the act of designing has always been—and always will be—a process of discovery, the question is: upon what do we base our speculation in this evolving social context? An evidence-based approach is not linear or static, nor does it provide a ready-made suite of answers, it simply means that we look beyond the limitations of our own knowledge for reliable information upon which to base our process.

This approach is now critical for the design, production and operation of urban, work, retail, health, learning, transport, aged care and cultural spaces—anyplace where the built environment can have a real and significant impact on an occupant’s experience and performance.

The aim of EBD is to create a bridge between research and design practice, augmenting the existing knowledge of organizations, communities, architects and urban planners, their clients and end users, with available evidence about the ways in which people interact with the new and complex environments that we now occupy. Predictable, or not, reliable information about anthropospatial behaviour can inspire new thoughts and ideas.

At EBD, our ambition is to refocus architectural thinking on the person and refine the concept of what data might be. A single story can be data and, in sufficient quantity, that data can become evidence. The problem for design professionals is that such evidence is not readily available outside of the realm of academia, and it is not often gathered with the act of design in mind—it requires filtering and interpretation—and that is where EBD comes in.

If you support what we are doing, then please get in touch and follow us on our social media sites. Through the EBD blog, there will be opportunities for our readers to contribute their knowledge and experiences because, most of all, we want to know what you know and what is useful to you. For EBD to grow and evolve then we also need your critical feedback. We are very excited about this new venture and we are looking forward to hearing from you soon.

All the best

Darragh O’Brien