The twenty-first century has seen the rapid emergence of wireless broadband and mobile communications devices which are inexorably changing the way people communicate, collaborate, create and transfer knowledge. Yet many higher education campus learning environments were designed and built in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries prior to wireless broadband networks. Now, new learning environments are being re-engineered to meet these emerging technologies with significant challenges to existing pedagogical practices. However, these next generation learning environments (NGLEs) have not been evaluated thoroughly to see if they actually work as they are scaled up across the higher education system. Whilst there have been a range of NGLEs designed globallywith Australia leading in the past five years or soit is timely that a more rigorous research methodology drawing from health facility evidence-based design is taken to evaluate their effectiveness in improving the student experience and learning outcomes.

Aim: To use Value-Focused Thinking to investigate what is important in the design of inpatient stroke rehabilitation facility buildings. Background: Many stroke patients require inpatient rehabilitation in a dedicated facility. Rehabilitation facilities are healthcare spaces, but they are also learning spaces where patients practice targeted tasks to acquire new skills and to reacquire skills and abilities that were compromised as a result of their stroke. There is currently no consensus regarding how the design of inpatient rehabilitation facilities could be optimized for patients’ learning. Method: We used Value-Focused Thinking to develop a framework of what interdisciplinary experts consider important for inpatient stroke rehabilitation facility design. Two workshops were conducted. The following experts were invited to participate: past patients with experience of stroke rehabilitation; stroke rehabilitation clinicians; stroke rehabilitation academics; healthcare environments academics; learning environments academics; architects, designers, and wayfinders with experience designing healthcare or learning environments; and healthcare design policy makers. Results: Thirty experts participated. The experts’ final framework included 16 criteria that were considered fundamentally important for inpatient stroke rehabilitation facility design, and 14 criteria that were considered instrumentally important. Inpatient stroke rehabilitation facility design should maximize efficiency, maximize effectiveness (i.e., patients’ clinical and functional outcomes), foster emotional well-being, and maximize safety. Opportunities to practice physical, cognitive, and social activity were considered important for patients’ outcomes. Conclusions: Value-Focused Thinking was an effective and equitable means of engaging experts from multiple disciplines. Designers, planners, and developers of inpatient stroke rehabilitation facilities should consider the rehabilitation-specific framework developed in this study alongside evidence from other healthcare settings.

There is a significant increase in the number of people with dementia, and the demand for residential support facilities is expected to increase. Providing an appropriate living environment for residents with dementia, which can cater for their specific needs is crucial. Residential aged care design can impact the quality of life and wellbeing of the residents. In this investigation, three recently constructed dementia support facilities in Victoria, Australia are selected for evaluation. Through fieldwork observation, design evaluation and space syntax analysis, the aim of this investigation is to consider the design of these three facilities in the context of current evidence on how the built environment can best accommodate residents with dementia.

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Key workplace design features that matter to RAC staff in a 'shared workspace' exist. Increasing demands upon RAC requires evidence-based workplace design policy and evaluation approaches that support RAC staff to work in RAC shared workspaces.