2021 CORE Recipients

2021 EDRA CORE - CERTIFICATE OF RESEARCH EXCELLENCE  "Sparking innovation and promoting best practice in environmental design."

The Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) is pleased to announce the recipients of the Certificate of Research Excellence (CORE) for 2021. CORE recognizes rigorous, valuable, and impactful practice-based research that sparks innovation and promotes best practice in environmental design.

The credibility of academic research is typically judged on the basis of well established protocols and peer-review processes – but what constitutes research quality in the context of the practice of environmental design? The tools used to assess academic research do not easily translate to practice-based research, a challenge for researchers and practitioners alike. In response, EDRA developed CORE to serve as a measuring stick to assess the value of research that goes beyond rigor alone.

EDRA CORE’s unique evaluation framework identifies practice-based environmental design research that is not only rigorous, but also offers measurable value, meets industry challenges, and advances design thinking; recognizes the importance of research in practice; provides a compass to guide designers, researchers, organizations, and manufacturers; and builds on EDRA’s tradition of inquiry, reflection, and collaboration and its commitment to innovation

2021 EDRA CORE REVIEWERS

GALEN NEWMAN, PhD Associate Professor Associate Department Head, Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning Texas A&M
HUI CAI, PhD Associate Professor Associate Director, Institute of Health and Wellness Design Kansas University
SHARMIN KADER, PhD Design Research Associate MTS
ADA MESTAD Design Anthropologist HGA Architects & Engineers
BRIAN SCHERMER, PhD, AIA Associate Professor University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Principal, Workshop Architects

2021 EDRA CORE RECIPIENTS

The following practice-based design research projects met the CORE criteria and were selected for recognition, based on the review of a cross-disciplinary panel of reviewers consisting of academic researchers, practice-based researchers, designers, and industry thought leaders. The CORE recipients have been recognized at the EDRA52 Detroit Virtual Conference, May 19-23, 2021.

MERIT CERTIFICATION

”Reimagining Kindergarten: A Mixed- Methods Approach to Testing Design Hypotheses in Early Childhood Environments” DLR Group
Study team: Raechel French, Anjana Sivakumar, Dr. Lennie Scott-Webber, and B. (Bonnie) Sanborn

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”From Temporary to Transformative: Work from Home Insights” HKS
Study team: Casey Lindberg, Babak Soleimani, Melissa Hoelting, Upali Nanda

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”Design’s Impact on Seniors’ Perceptions of Wellness” Perkins Eastman
Study team: Danya Hakky, Emily Chmielewski

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”Pre-Occupancy Evaluation of the Outpatient Specialty Clinics: A Shift to Team Based Coordinated Care” HGA
Study team: Tanya Chadha, Kara Freihoefer, Anoosha Baladi, and Lou Bunker-Hellmich

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”Mobility-Supporting Rehabilitation Clinics: Investigating Barriers and Facilitators to Stroke Inpatients’ Independent Mobility” Technische Universität Dresden
Study team: Maja Kevdzija, Gesine Marquardt, Ruzica Bozovic-Stamenovic, Rüdiger Buschfort, Claus W. Wallesch, Birk Engmann, Michael Linnebank

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CERTIFICATION

"Telehealth: Its Rapid Acceleration during the Pandemic and What This Could Mean for Outpatient Facilities" HKS | Center for Advanced Design Research and Evaluation
Study team: Deborah Wingler, Upali Nanda, Babak Soleimani, Melissa Hoelting

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"Rise of the Community Learning Center" TreanorHL Student Life Studio
Study team: Julie Lawless, Nadia Zhiri, Lisa Lamb, Sharmin Kader

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”Understanding Art Museum Usage Patterns By Utilizing Social Media Data” Beijing Jiaotong University
Study team: Dingyi LIU, Zhongzhong Zeng, Dingyi Liu, Bo Zhang

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“A Comparative Analysis of Visualization Methods in Architecture: Employing Virtual Reality to Support the Decision- Making Process in the AEC Industry” Ahmed Redha Gheraba
Study team: Ahmed Redha Gheraba, Debajyoti Pati, Ali Nejat, Marcelo Schmidt, and Mukaddes Darwish

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