OU Interior Design Faculty recently presented at the Environmental Design Research Association’s 54th Annual Mexico City Conference. Professors of Interior Design Dawn Loraas and Yeji Yi both attended the conference and shared their research findings.
EDRA invited practitioners, researchers and educators from all interested fields to submit proposals that collectively rethink how environmental, architectural and design research can take on current challenges. The conference provided a forum to discuss how to improve the environment and promote health and well-being at both a local and global level.
Loraas presented her project “Using Place Theory to Understand Educator’s Perceptions of Poor Indoor Air Quality on Well-Being” and explored her findings on place detachment, as part of the larger field of place theory. Place detachment refers to the state of mind of a person who has lost their emotional bond with a specific place, due to unwanted circumstances.
The main goal of her research was to determine if negative place attachment was significantly higher for educators who perceive toxic indoor air quality in their school building. Loraas discovered that many participants deem the school building in which they work to be hostile. From her research, she determined that physical building attributes are a key component in educator well-being and satisfaction with their workplace.
Yi presented her project, “Creating Therapeutic Environments for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Using Virtual Reality Technology: Systematic Review.” She examined the current state of virtual reality technology used for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in therapeutic settings. Her research and findings provided a guide for design considerations in creating environmental interventions using VR technology.
The University of Oklahoma College of Architecture is proud to announce that Model Schools in the Model City, authored by Director of the Institute for Quality Communities, Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., has been named one of ten finalists for the 2026 ASALH Book Prize for Best New Book in African American History and Culture.
This semester, students in the LA 5535 Studio: Ecological Planning and Design, led by Prof. Afsana Sharmin, took on an ambitious hypothetical project to redesign key parts of the OU campus. Their mission: to tackle the critical real-world challenge of stormwater management through innovative green design.
Petya Stefanoff, Chair of the Educational Committee with the American Planning Association, Oklahoma Chapter (APA-OK) and Gibbs College PhD candidate, has developed a new training program for local government officials. The program, focused on land use, zoning principles, and land development, recently certified its first graduates with Certified Citizen Planner status.
