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The recent alignment of architecture, neuroscience and psychology has recast our understanding of how building design influences people’s states of mind. Testable scientific hypotheses open up new avenues for the synthesis of these disparate fields of inquiry. This study draws upon some of the latest research that seeks to understand how hedonic states of pleasure are connected to eudaimonic assessments of meaningfulness within the built environments in which we work and live. Integrating these theoretical perspectives affords an opportunity to hypothesize that ‘green’ buildings could enrich human experience by promoting psychological and social engagement (eudaimonia) while providing healthier indoor environments that enhance the well-being of its occupants (hedonia). This paper provides evidence to support the intuition that an architecture that sustains the well-being of its occupants will be valued and endure.

Many facilities for people with dementia have been built with little translation of the substantial body of evidence available to inform design. Knowledge translation has been described as a four-stage process: awareness, agreement, adoption and adherence. This paper identifies where knOWledge translation fails in the design of aged care fa cilities for people with dementia. Ten aged care facilities were audited using the Environmental Audit Tool. Senior managers and architects involved in the facility design were then interviewed to ascertain their knowledge of evidence-based principles of dementia design, their agreement with the principles and the nature of the obstacles they had encountered in their implementation. All architects claimed at least partial awareness of the design principles. Five facili ty managers claimed full awa reness. Those faci lities designed with the input of managers who were fully aware of the principles were of significantly higher design quality. There was little agreement on the significance of other obstacles. Once aged care providers are aware of the prinCiples, they appear to find ways to implement them. If the next generation of residential aged care facilities is to be suitable for people with dementia, the facility managers must be made aware of the available design principles, architects encouraged to be more active in sharing their knowledge and ways found to improve the exchange of knowledge between the parties.

Organization researchers cannot fit the complex property development workflow processes with Galbraith’s information processing design theory, hence undermining attempts to ensure knowledge flow in complex multidisciplinary design collaborations. This survey paper summarizes recently completed studies at Stanford University on knowledge flows that affect organizational performance. The studies found that knowledge flows in functional knowledge areas differ from those in tacit knowledge areas. Future research will lead to the development of a knowledge management system for sustainable property development that considers the different dominant knowledge types during different design phases.