About this project:

The development of this web resource began when the Global Birth Environment Design Network was set in motion by Doreen Balabanoff and Davis Harte at the Normal Birth Conference (2018), with about 25 attendees in person and online. Since that time those who expressed interest in the project have been working together to develop an approach that could actually create change. Subsequent discussions led to grant applications, and eventually to two SSHRC-funded grants. The current Research-Creation Partnership Grant involves four Principal Investigators and their universities , and several research consultants and assistants.

The project is focused on elevating awareness of how transformational change for birth environment design is important, needed, and might be achieved. This web resource or ‘knowledge hub’ is the key developed/envisioned outcome of two grants, and it is a work in progress. The knowledge hub features case studies – positive exemplars we searched for, obtained permission to visit, video- and photo-documented, and analyzed. We conducted interviews with  managers, midwives, doctors, architects, and women and their birth companions. 

The development of case studies evolved from our realization that the visual and sensory nature of architecture and design needs to be present and elevated in the discourse about birth settings. Rather than discussing negative aspects, we believe it is important to make visible strong positive exemplars, with images and commentary that point to the issues that matter to salutogenic birth practices and experiences.

Further background info:

There is a growing and valuable body of knowledge and understanding about the role the environment and its attributes can play in supporting physiological birth processes and the physical and mental health of mothers, infants, caregivers and supporters.

The birth environment includes all persons who act in the space, and it includes not only one room, but the entire larger domain that might be encountered during prenatal, labour, birth and postnatal care. This can include entry, waiting, labour, delivery and recovery spaces, but also spaces for movement, communing with nature/landscape, nourishment (physical and spiritual) and companionship/family support.

The knowledge being developed about birth environment design is wide-ranging, and comes from diverse disciplines and constituencies. Design of the built environment is complex, and requires the opposite of a one-size-fits-all approach. As architects and designers know well, the physical as well as atmospheric aspects of designed spaces might take into account many elements:

  • responsiveness to locale, geography, ecology, cultural values, and traditions

  • available and viable materials

  • access and orientation to sun, wind/airflow, water, vegetation, views

  • layout and size of spaces, as a function of the scale and model of care

  • sensory means of achieving environmental affect and effect;

  • workflows and diverse user needs.

  • knowledge of lighting in relation to biopsychosocial aspects of birth

  • options for control of light, temperature, sound, privacy

  • communications needs (all parties, diverse needs including elimination of stress and disrepect)

  • awareness of the need to provide personal and cultural dignity

  • economic and political realities

  • healthcare systems policies and guideliens

This website aims to share knowledge for best practices, so that creators and developers of birth environment design - whether architects, designers, midwives, doctors, managers, or policy makers - can make informed decisions that support the health and wellbeing of all involved. Salutogenic design is an important goal today - and birth environment is a significant opportunity for developing this approach within maternity care, across the globe, in diverse and creative projects.

Meet the team:

  • Doreen Balabanoff

    RESEARCH PARTNER

    Doreen Balabanoff is a Professor Emerita and Adjunct Professor at OCAD University, where she has taught for many years in the Environmental Design program and more recently the Design for Health program. She holds a Masters of Architecture (UCLA 1985) and a PhD in Architecture, (University College Dublin 2017).

    Her architectural interests centre on phenomenological spatial experience – aesthetic, sensory, emotive and atmospheric aspects. Her PhD focused on reimagining the birth environment, with emphasis on the spatial value of light-colour-darkness for the embodied experience that enhances and supports normal birth. She is co-founder of the Global Birth Environment Design Network (GBEDN).

  • J Davis Harte

    RESEARCH PARTNER

    J. Davis Harte is the Director and Faculty of the Design for Human Health master’s program at the Boston Architectural College. She is a WELL AP. Dr. Harte is an educator, advocate, practitioner, and speaker who bridges trauma-informed spaces, children’s places, and birth environments with brain, neuroscientific, and environmental psychological knowledge.

    Davis holds a PhD in Health from the University of Technology Sydney, publishing “The Childbirth Supporter Study’: Video-ethnographic examination of the physical birth unit environment” and a MSc degree in Design for Human Environments (interiors focus) from Oregon State University. She co-leads the Global Birth Environment Design Network.

  • Elizabeth Newnham

    RESEARCH PARTNER

    Elizabeth Newnham (B.Nsg, B.Mid, B.A (Hons), PhD) is a senior lecturer at the University of Newcastle and Program Convener for the Bachelor of Midwifery. Her 20-year career includes clinical midwifery practice, advocacy, teaching and research. Her PhD, awarded in 2016 (University of South Australia), was published as the book Towards the humanisation of birth: A study of epidural analgesia and hospital birth culture by Palgrave MacMillan in 2018. Key areas of study are birth culture and environment, midwifery practice to support birth physiology, birth technologies, pain in labour, maternity policy/politics and informed consent/bioethics.

  • Nicoletta Setola

    RESEARCH PARTNER

    Nicoletta Setola (PhD, Architect) is Associate Professor at the Department of Architecture University of Florence. She is member of TESIS Centre “Systems and Technologies for Healthcare and Social Facilities” and European Network Architecture for Health (ENAH). Her research focuses on the topic of socio-healthcare building, particularly on birth environment, public spaces in hospital, and primary care facilities. She is expert in methodology and tools for the spatial configuration analysis related to people flow in healthcare buildings to favour users rights. She is working on the impact of maternity spaces on people health and behaviors and in action researches about birth centers design in Italy and Kenya. She is co-founder of the Global Birth Environment Design Network (GBEDN).

  • Alessia Macchi

    RESEARCH COLLABORATOR

    Alessia Macchi (PhD, Architect) is an independent researcher collaborating with the GBEDN from 2018.

    Alessia got Master’s degree in Architecture, University of Florence, in 2010. Teaching assistant from 2011 to 2016 in the Environmental Design Lab and research fellow for the University of Florence, Architecture, from 2013 to 2022, when she got her PhD with the tesis "EmBracE: Embodied Birth Environment".

    Macchi’s work is grounded on co-creation and participatory processes with experts and users to develop social and technological innovation. Her research involves sensory-perceptive integrated design approach, to co-develop sensory technology solutions for a supportive birth environment.

  • Anka Dür

    RESEARCH COLLABORATOR

    Architect by profession, midwife by vocation, researcher by passion. Since 2014 Anka Dür has been intensively involved in the research of birth and space.

    Anka Dür studied architecture at ETH Zurich, TU Berlin and Innsbruck. In 2016 she co-founded the activist group “Birth Culture a-z” in Vorarlberg, Austria. In her diploma thesis, Anka Duer designed a contemporary birthing center with birthing rooms made of rammed earth. In 2020, a prototype of such a birthing room was created next to the Women's Museum in Hittisau (Austria) - the so-called "Room for Birth and Senses".

    In 2022, Anka Duer completed her training as a midwife at the ZHAW, Switzerland. In Sophie Dettmar's documentary "In Your Hands" Anka Duer appears as one of the two protagonists (D, 66 Min, 2023). Anka Dür‘s main concern is to create spaces for birth and to find answers to an undefined typology.

  • Alison Mulvale

    RESEARCH COLLABORATOR

    Alison is a designer and researcher dedicated to transforming health and birthing spaces through thoughtful, human-centered design approaches.

    With a Bachelor of Design in Environmental Design and a Master of Design in Design for Health from OCAD University, Alison combines expertise in spatial design, experience based co-design, and healthcare innovation to create environments that promote well-being, comfort, and dignity. Drawing on research, collaboration, and a deep understanding of stakeholder needs, Alison works to improve the functionality and emotional impact of health and wellness spaces—especially those focused on maternal and newborn care.

    Alison’s approach integrates evidence-based design, inclusive design, and ambiance to support better health outcomes and experiences.Alison is committed to shaping spaces that are not only efficient but also nurturing, empowering individuals and families during some of life’s most significant moments. 

  • Salam Roman

    RESEARCH COLLABORATOR

    Salam Roman is a spirited architect and a research advocate with a growing passion for art and design. Salam is currently an OAA Intern Architect at Strasman Architects Inc. in Toronto. With over 10 years of experience in architecture and design, Salam has distinctive skills in design thinking, process, development, and visualization among multiple design sectors, including healthcare architecture.

    Jordan University of Science and Technology is where she earned her bachelor's degree in architecture. She also has a master's degree from OCAD University in Design for Health. One of her primary areas of interest in architecture and research focuses on the design process for birthing environments and the complexity behind curating birthing spaces. Salam is a strong proponent of the powers and ability of architecture, research, and creative design thinking to strengthen our communities, empower our society, and enrich our cultures.