The special issue of the journal, Children in Contemporary Society, contains 17 brief articles on environmental design for young handicapped and normal children. Articles have the following titles: "Introduction", "Environmental Design and Architecture", "Why Is Environmental Design Important to Young Children", "Children's Hospital National…

The relationship of architecture to society and the quality of life is explored in these areas: context, routes, environment, groupings, and interface. Architecture that grows out of interrelationships imposes order on a confused world and makes possible effective problem solving. (LBH)

Reported are results of a project carried out at the Swedish Institute for the Handicapped to determine needs of the visually impaired in the planning and adaptation of buildings and other forms of physical environment. Chapter 1 considers implications of impaired vision and includes definitions, statistics, and problems of the visually impaired…

There is reasonable agreement that hearing impairment is related to noise exposure. This hearing loss due to noise is considered a serious health injury, but there is still difficulty in delineating the importance of noise related to people's general non-auditory well-being and health. Beside hearing loss, noise inhibits satisfactory speech…

Presents two contemporary definitions of urban design which incorporate spatial and time scales, man-environment relations, and multi-professional associations. (MA)

The basic concepts and several examples of the effects of the physical environment on man are discussed. Aesthetic judgments of the environment are related primarily to the physiological well-being of an individual and secondarily to his social experiences. Excessive loading of any one of the senses can prevent a balanced assessment of the…

This study was commissioned by the American Institute of Architects because of a widespread feeling that education for environmental design must change. The purpose of this study is to focus and give direction to the many changes that are taking place in environmental design education today. Emerging from the study was a process for planning and…

Intrinsically safe design is presented as a logical extension of the principles of barrier free design, and as a higher level design strategy for effecting widespread implementation of the basic accessibility requirements for people with disabilities. Two fundamental planning procedures are proposed: including principles of safe and accessible…

Describes a project that is a part of an "Architects in Schools" program in England in which students were challenged to redesign a small structure on the school grounds. Discusses the student tasks involved, including the development of scale models, and the evaluation of the design. (TW)

Over the past eight years several combined behavioral and architectural investigations have been undertaken by Ewing Miller Associates. On the basis of data from almost 1,500 university students, an extended example of some of the results of these cooperative studies is presented. The work carried on relative to the college campus has dealt mainly…

The project on physical environment and special education attempted to formulate research based statements that would assist both special educators and architects in designing educational facilities for special education. The major implication of all findings was that a dearth existed in educators and facility planners who were trained and/or…

This paper discusses the impact of layout and design of child care centers on the education of young children. It asserts that child care facilities must be designed to support and stimulate children's natural developmental processes, providing both direct and indirect educational opportunities. The paper discusses the stages of the design process…

Reported are the findings of a research study to determine the effects of physical environment on the learning behavior of 13 institutionalized moderately and severely retarded individuals (14-18 years old). An introductory section covers the need for research in environmental control, the five study objectives, study procedures, data collection…

Provided is the revised and updated version of a report on the effects of physical environment on the learning behavior of 13 institutionalized moderately and severely retarded individuals (14 to 18 years old). An introductory section covers the need for research in enviornmental control, study objectives and procedures, methodology, and…

The statements and notations in this report have been abstracted from 12 interdisciplinary conferences conducted on subjects related to social and environmental variables as determinants of mental health plus one conference on recreation. This summary reflects the essence of statements that may have a direct or indirect bearing on considerations…