Hospitals are generally not places people aspire to go to. Drab, grey and unwelcoming, with overworked and underpaid staff is many people’s experience. But a growing body of research linking patient wellbeing to the quality of their surroundings has inspired some amazing hospital interior designs. Colour, light and minimalism are all playing a role. See […]

If you’re about to open or makeover a coffee shop, café or casual restaurant, what are the café design trends and ideas to be aware of? Here, we unveil six of the trends from those in the know. Interior design blogger Emily Osmond, picks 5 café interior trends to take note of; we share two from her […]

Evidence-based Design (EBD) for healthcare is on the rise. Two recent examples where EBD has been used for designing healthcare institutions in Australia are the Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth and the Gold Coast University Hospital. Many more examples from all over the world can be found in a collection of case studies published from the Center for Health […]

Café and restaurant designers face a difficult challenge when designing café interiors: how to create buzz and ambience, while still letting people hear each other speak. Here are the key acoustic considerations. There are no hard and fast acoustic rules for cafés and restaurants: as most strive to create a unique atmosphere and identity. The […]

Remember Florence Nightingale? The Lady with the Lamp? She rose to fame for her part in the Crimean War in the 1850s, and is considered by many to be the founder of modern nursing. But what can she teach us today? Quite a lot, it turns out. A growing body of evidence suggests that many […]

Reverberation time  In a closed space, sound gets reflected many times from hard and smooth surfaces and creates a reverberation. In other words, the sound persists long after its source ceased generating it. Sounds reflected from multiple surfaces also add up to increase the noise (decibel) level in the room. In an enclosed space, for […]