FACULTY - SCIENCE IN DESIGN

OUR esteemed faculty

The director of projects at Terrapin Bright Green with 20 years of experience in design and environmental sustainability. She has served as a member of GSA’s Workplace Advisory Group, advisor to the WELL Building Standard, and co-founder of the Stephen Kellert Biophilic Design Award.

Catie holds a bachelor’s degree in art and design from Connecticut College and a master’s degree in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University.

For 15 years, Bill Browning and Catie have worked together on biophilic design research, education, strategy, and implementation across a range of industries and project collaborators, including 1 Hotels, California Department of General Services, Clif Bar, CoStar Group, Delos, Google, Interface, JPMorgan Chase, Marriott Westin, Mars Corporation, the Port of Portland Oregon, Salesforce, Dallas Southwest Medical District, the University of Virginia, US EPA, and the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID).

Catie and Bill are advisors to the International Living Future Institute’s Biophilic Design Initiative and have written extensively on the topic of biophilic design. They are co-authors of Nature Inside, A Biophilic Design Guide (RIBA, 2020), as well as 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design (2014) and the award-winning publication The Economics of Biophilia (2012), which have been translated into multiple languages and folded into green building standards.

One of the real estate industry’s foremost thinkers and strategists on green building and biophilic design. Bill is an advocate for sustainable design solutions at all levels of business, government, and civil society. Bill has been a leading voice on biophilia since the 1990s. Bill is a founding partner at Terrapin Bright Green, founding board member of the US Green Building Council,

and is a recipient of the 2015 ASID National Design for Humanity Award and the 1999 President’s Council on Sustainable Development Renew America Prize. Bill holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental design from University of Colorado at Boulder and a master’s degree in Real Estate Development from MIT

For 15 years, Bill and Catie Ryan Balagtas have worked together on biophilic design research, education, strategy, and implementation across a range of industries and project collaborators, including 1 Hotels, California Department of General Services, Clif Bar, CoStar Group, Delos, Google, Interface, JPMorgan Chase, Marriott Westin, Mars Corporation, the Port of Portland Oregon, Salesforce, Dallas Southwest Medical District, the University of Virginia, US EPA, and the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID).

Kelly Canavan helped launch 3M Visual Attention software in 2010 and has worked on several software and services businesses since joining 3M in 2004. Before then, Kelly focused on consumer packaged goods marketing while working at General Mills and advertising agencies in Minneapolis, Budapest, Frankfurt, and New York.

Anjan Chatterjee is Professor of Neurology, Psychology, and Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and the founding director of the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics. He received his BA in Philosophy from Haverford College, MD from the University of Pennsylvania and completed his neurology residency at the University of Chicago.

The past Chair of Neurology at Pennsylvania Hospital, Dr. Chatterjee’s clinical practice focuses on patients with cognitive disorders. His research addresses neuroaesthetics, spatial cognition, language, and neuroethics. He wrote The Aesthetic Brain: How we evolved to desire beauty and enjoy art and co-edited Brain, Beauty, and Art: Bringing Neuroaesthetics in Focus as well as Neuroethics in Practice: Mind, Medicine, and Society, and The Roots of Cognitive Neuroscience: Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychology. His editorial services have included: American Journal of Bioethics: Neuroscience, Behavioural Neurology, Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, Empirical Studies of the Arts, European Neurology, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, Journal of NeuroPhilosophy, European Neurology, Neuropsychology, and The Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts. He received the Norman Geschwind Prize in Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology from the American Academy of Neurology and the Rudolph Arnheim Prize for contributions to Psychology and the Arts from the American Psychological Association. Dr. Chatterjee is a founding member of the Board of Governors of the Neuroethics Society, the past President of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics, and the Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology Society. He serves on the board of The Global Wellness Institute and has served on the boards of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Haverford College, the Norris Square Neighborhood Project and the Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

A leading supplier of best-in-class wellness technology solutions for residential applications available through professional installers.

Ham has a degree majoring in Kinesiology with a minor in Nutrition and has spent the past two decades in the field of health and wellness, serving in leadership roles within the non-profit, organic farming, custom integration and consumer packaged goods sectors.

Michael is part of the International WELL Building Institute as an Accredited Professional and Faculty member as well as with Fitwel as an Ambassador to increase awareness of how the spaces where we live, work, study and play can impact our health and to share his passion for continuous improvement through people and planet-centric design and technology.

He has a deep background in regenerative organic agriculture, indoor air quality, water quality and other important aspects of wellness technology for the home. Michael has been invited to speak about wellness and technology at IAQA, TecHome Builder Summits, Housing Innovation Alliance, GreenHome Institute, LivABLE Design Summit, CES 2021, CES 2022, CEDIA and the World Tea Expo.

Founded in 1999,TRIO is a Denver-based design and visual merchandising firm focused on market-driven design. The company collaborates with builders and developers across the country on all aspects of master planned communities, model homes, clubhouses, sales centers, commercial and hospitality projects, multifamily apartments, and offers a comprehensive studio for everything related to interior design and merchandising.

In the last five years alone, TRIO has helped its builder and developer partners generate $94.7 billion in revenue, and sell over 4 million single-family homes, and 3.1 million multifamily units.

Under Angela’s leadership as the CEO and Principal, TRIO has been recognized three years in a row as a Top 100 Giant by Interior Design Magazine, and recognized as one of the fast growing private companies nationwide by Inc 5000.

Angela has her master’s degree in Sustainable Design with a strong focus on design and merchandising. She is leading the charge in incorporating the Well Building Standard in production and multifamily housing. TRIO has received over 40 + MAME Awards (Major Achievement in Marketing Excellence) over the past 5 years, including 8 in 2019 for interior merchandising, in addition to Best Custom Home at The Nationals in 2017 and Best Commercial at The Nationals in 2016 & 2017.

Angela’s individual honors include 2016 Icon Award from the HBA of Metro Denver, 2015 designation in Professional Builder’s “40 Under 40” program, which recognizes homebuilding’s next generation of innovation and leadership. She was also named 2014 Builder Partner of the Year by Denver’s Home Building Association, and its 2013 Rising Star and Volunteer of the Year.

I specialize in color. I consult and help to solve the many different challenges that color brings to corporations and individuals through my consulting firm. I am on the board of Color Marketing Group and lead a successful regional Color Trend Workshop in Toronto every year. I have developed the color Education program

Colour Power, for Color Marketing Group (CMG), with fellow board member Alicia Keshishian. I teach color and color trend forecasting. I have been a guest speaker at High Point and several other conferences on design. I also teach and develop customized training programs in colour and trend forecasting for companies interested in educating their employees. Color is not just about hue it is about the physiology, psychology and cultural aspects of color.

Alexandros A. Lavdas, MSc, PhD, is a tenured Senior Researcher Neuroscientist at Eurac Research, Bolzano, Italy, an Assistant Professor and Head of Psychology at Webster University, Athens campus, Greece, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Human Architecture and Planning Institute in Concord, MA . He holds a PhD from University College London (UCL)

and has worked at UCL, the Hellenic Pasteur Institute in Athens, and the University of Indianapolis (Athens branch). He is especially interested in examining elements of visual organized complexity, such as those found in nature and pre-modern architecture, and exploring their physiological and neural correlates.

Nuria is a seasoned consultant, esteemed designer, captivating speaker, and respected educator based in Valencia, Spain, with a global reach. Her unwavering belief in the intrinsic connection between well-being and nature fuels her drive to create healthier, more appealing environments while passionately advocating for biophilic design worldwide.

As the founder of the award-winning interior design studio, Habitarmonia, Nuria is recognized as a finalist for the prestigious Stephen Kellert Award Europe for Biophilic Design in 2023. Collaborating with international neuroscientists, she develops cutting-edge strategies to enhance the lives of elderly individuals and those affected by cognitive conditions associated with old age.

Beyond her impactful work in interior design, Nuria is committed to sustainability through involvement in a Think Tank for a more sustainable Pakistan and creating specialized courses on Wellbeing Design for Interior Designers.

As the Founder of Biophilic Society, Nuria has established a dynamic network of like-minded professionals working to promote biophilia and regenerative design worldwide. Her holistic approach to design, unwavering passion for nature-inspired solutions, and visionary leadership make her a trusted authority in the industry, inspiring positive change for healthier, more sustainable environments.

Vice President HKS, Inc. As an Architect and Design Researcher at HKS. Erin bridges the gap between research and practice, with a focus on design for health. Erin’s passion for creating environments that help people live well has driven her evidence-based, user-centered approach to design. In her leadership role at HKS, she helps integrate research and practice to advance the creation and communication of knowledge across the globe.

Before joining HKS, Erin was a senior researcher and medical planner at HOK in New York, a research consultant with the Center for Health Design and Georgia Institute of Technology. She is active in giving back to the health care design community as a speaker, mentor, teacher and board member, and served as adjunct faculty at New York School of Interior Design and The Pratt Institute. Erin is an Industry Scholar for the Cornell Institute for Healthy Futures, and her research has been published in international scientific journals and industry publications, and she is a leading voice on how design can combat loneliness and foster social health. Erin has been featured by Fast Company, SXSW, Curbed, and Psychology Today. Her podcast, Shared Space, explores the hidden structures of our spaces that impact how we connect, live, and heal.

An internationally recognized, award winning furniture brand. Combining exciting concepts, talented designers, skillful producers and a dedicated support staff, Phillips Collection is a creative collaboration that mixes concept, craftsmanship and marketing to bring beautiful furnishings and accessories into sophisticated environments.

Our tagline is ‘every piece a conversation’. Phillips Collection can be found in fine retail stores and hotels throughout the world. Join the conversation at www.phillipscollection.com

CEO Ruggles Mabe Studio Architecture + Interiors. Twelve years ago, Don set out to research beauty as a vital component of architecture. Through his research, Don learned that beauty is related to a pleasure response in the brain and is deeply beneficial to our health and wellbeing through the creation of patterns, spaces, and scenes that promote homeostasis between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for the human stress response to potential danger while the parasympathetic nervous system counterbalances stress with physiological changes that restore calm to the body. Don has found application for his research in the balancing of environmental cues, creating architecture and interiors that balance calm, ordered and understandable cues with fascination, awe and novel inputs. This careful balance results in built environments that foster health and wellbeing through brainwave coherence, like the proven effects of meditation.

A new, urgent effort is needed to refocus the direction of design to include the quality of beauty as a fundamental, overarching theme in two of man’s most important fields — the built and artistic environments. This film is predicated on Don’s first book, “Beauty, Neuroscience & Architecture: Timeless Patterns & Their Impact on Our Well-Being,” which investigates how timeless forms and patterns in architecture and design affect our health and well-being.
“There is a deep-seated need for beauty and when that need is filled, a sense of safety and comfort is created.” — Donald H. Ruggles, AIA

Author, Cognitive Architecture; Co-Editor, Urban Experience+Design, Instructor, Boston Architectural College, President, Human Architecture & Planning Institute, Inc, theHapi.org. Ann Sussman, RA, an architect, author, and researcher is passionate about understanding how buildings influence people emotionally.

Her book, Cognitive Architecture, Designing for How We respond to the Built Environment (2015), co-authored with Justin B. Hollander, won the 2016 Place Research Award from the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA). The 2nd edition, featuring 40 full-color eye-tracked images of architecture, came out in July (2021). A frequent speaker, Ann has given more than 90 lectures at regional conferences and universities, including Greenbuild/Berlin in 2018 and Greenbuild/Amsterdam in 2019. She currently teaches an introductory course on human perception, Architecture & Cognition, at the Boston Architectural College (BAC). In 2020, she co-founded The Human Architecture + Planning Institute, Inc (theHapi.org), a non-profit dedicated to improving our understanding of the human experience of place, and serves as its president.

Dr. Tapia is an experienced practicing Board Certified physician and Aging-in-Place consultant who helps clients and their design teams integrate health-related considerations into residential design projects.

She is also a mother of three and caregiver for her grandmother, age 89, who enjoys a thoughtfully customized space in their home focused on promoting independence, privacy and quality of life. In her decade of seeing patients, she developed a deep appreciation for the power of design to change lives, merge generations, and improve health.

Dr. Tapia’s mission is to bring new perspectives to the design table through teaching designers how to differentiate their programming phase with powerful and deliberate questions, then translating the information into meaningful custom design specifications. This approach highlights the role of a designer well beyond visual aesthetics, creating a new narrative for the essential value of residential design.
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Course intro:
“The No-Drama way to apply Human Centered Design in your business TODAY”

Consumers have made lightning-fast advancements in recent years understanding how the design of their space impacts their own health and wellbeing. The narrative of the future is understanding how residential design will perform and care for those in it. But we need to innovate and update programming phase processes now to reflect this shift because the idea that design impacts health is an entirely new value proposition versus the pre-pandemic mindset.

In this course we step into action and application by throwing out the standard design questionnaire and test-driving an approach borrowed from friends in the medical community. I will give you a framework on how to ask design-related questions pertinent to health and function, give you suggestions on how they impact design specifications, and provide expert tips along the way so you have confidence to apply a human-centered design approach in your design business today.

Richard Taylor is a Professor of Physics, Psychology and Art and currently is Head of the Physics Department at the University of Oregon. He has a Ph.D. and D.Sc. in physics and a Masters degree in art theory. Taylor explores nature’s patterns across a diverse range of fields (spanning architecture, art, biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, physics, physiology and psychology) and has published over 300 articles.

He has taught 10,000 students and won 5 teaching awards. Taylor uses his interests in nature’s patterns to encourage innovative art-science collaborations. He is the art editor of Non-Linear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences, a member of three research companies (Art Intelligence Group, Fractals Research and Project Dasein) and belongs to a number of international collaborations (for example, the ScienceDesignLab and the Fractal Round Table). He also promotes public awareness of the power of interdisciplinary thinking and liberal arts education. His work has been the subject of television documentaries (including ABC’s The Art of Science, PBS’s Hunting the Hidden Dimension and the BBC’s The Code), many popular press articles (for example, in The New York Times and The London Times) and magazine articles (for example, in Scientific American, Time, The New Yorker, New Scientist and Discover). He regularly gives lectures around the world, commissioned by organizations as diverse as the Nobel Foundation, the Royal Society and national art galleries such as the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Guggenheim Museum in Venice.

OUR esteemed faculty

Catie Ryan Balagtas

Bill Browning

Kelly Canavan

Dr. Anjan Chatterjee

Michael Don Ham

Angela Harris

Roz Kavander

Alexandros Lavdas

Nuria Muñoz

Erin Peavey

Mark Phillips

Don Ruggles

Ann Sussman

Dr. Rebecca Tapia

Dr. Richard Taylor

Mike Peterson