News

Alexi Marmot is profiled in July's edition of Mix Interiors.  She talks about the philosophies behind the work of AMA and outlines some recent projects.

In June Nigel Oseland gave a presentation on designing offices to improve business performance at The Impact of Office Design on Business Performance event at Herman Miller.  The event was held at their new National Design Centre in London and was attended by architects, designers, HR professionals and office managers.  Nigel's presentation explored the consequences of designing workplaces for psychological and social requirements.

AMA have released the first issue of their newsletter, WorkWare Nexus, which is available for download from the website. Over the last eighteen years AMA has collected data from over 60,000 people and 250 buildings including public and corporate offices and learning environments. The newsletter has been launched to disseminate AMA’s latest findings on occupant behaviour, space use and building requirements.

In summer 2007 Alexi Marmot created the Living Learning Lab at UCL's Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, to demonstrate by example how small scale space interventions can aid the student learning experience. Herman Miller provided most of the furniture and have published it as a case study, downloadable left. The response from staff and students has been excellent.

AMA is working with the British Council for School Environments (BCSE) together with contractors and educational suppliers on the transformation of a primary school in Ealing as part of National School Environment week, which kicks off on 23 June 2008.  The 'makeover' will see three key areas of Southfield Primary School transformed in a five day project to show how educational spaces can be changed to provide improved learning and teaching opportunities for pupils and staff.

Nigel Oseland made a presentation on ‘How to create office buildings that really work’ at the SCRI (Salford Centre for Research Innovation) forum on 26 June 2008. The forum discussed the need to understand the activities which go on inside and around our buildings.

Building on the success of last year's learning conference, AMA sponsored the second conference, held at the Royal College of Surgeons on 18 June 2008.  This year's theme was Designing and Managing Sustainable Learning Environments. The conference provided estate managers and designers with an overview of the key requirements for sustainable educational facilities. The unique element of the event is the combination of all stages of the education process (schools, academies, FE, HE) into one day.

Our next Buildings and Social Science (BASS) meeting is in November 2008. BASS is a network of social scientists working within consulting and architectural practices, involved in designing workplaces.  BASS promotes the role of the social scientist in creating better workplaces and provides a forum to share our knowledge, theories, methods and case studies.  Please contact us if you would like to participate.