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OBITUARY

PHIL GUSACK

It is sad to report the death of Phil Gusack who passed away peacefully on the 9^th of November 2011 at the age of 63.

Phil was the complete architect, living and breathing his chosen occupation. With a highly creative mind and an inclination towards lateral thinking he was an engaging and challenging companion and good fun.

The only son of a doctor, he was born and brought up in Sunderland and showed early artistic talent and a determined interest in becoming an architect. Pursuing this desire, he went to Liverpool University to study Architecture from 1967 – 1970, but any further progress there was interrupted by the student rebellion that took place and in which he took part, ending up as one of the small group of students who were sent down by the University.

However, it could be said that at this point he achieved his highest national profile, appearing, to the surprise of many, including his parents, on the front page of the then Manchester Guardian.

He then came to London where he worked initially as an assistant to Alvin Boyarsky and then with the Architects at the Department of Health and Social Security.  At the same time he pursued his studies at the AA, gaining his Diploma in 1974. While working in the DHSS on the Harness Hospital Building System he met George Agron from Marcini and Patterson Architects in Berkley, USA, and was invited to join the firm to work on the Veteran Hospitals programme in which they were involved.

This was the beginning of Phil’s travels and work in many countries. He enjoyed everything about America and its culture and he worked there, in California and New York, for ten years before returning to the UK in the 1980s. From here, where he had become a Director at Fitch, he left for St Vincent in the Caribbean and then, in the late 1990s he moved to Poland.

Wherever Phil went he made good friends. Although he was not always able to keep in touch from abroad, the moment he returned anywhere he was on the phone to say Hi, I’m back! He researched, planned, designed and built a wide range of projects, not just hospitals, in the UK, USA, West Indies and Eastern Europe. One of his more recent projects, Tulipan House, a 20,000m² office development in Warsaw, has recently received an award.

Phil was based in Poland when his health worsened, forcing a return to the UK in 2003. Despite these problems and his loss of sight, his interests, enthusiasm and creativity did not diminish. It was typical of his character and dedication to the pursuit of his profession and his wide ranging interests in the world of ideas that the obstacles created by his illness were seen by him as challenges to be overcome: where others would have faltered he continued with determination and, amongst other enterprises, responded to two opportunities to participate in ideas competitions for future hospitals. The first of these was for Riga in Latvia, and the second for a hypothetical site in Holland. Both were well received and gave him the opportunity to see a number of his European friends.

He became an active and helpful member of Architects for Health, frequently writing up reports on events for placement on its website. His visit last year to Brazil with colleagues from Architects for Health produced an entertaining video about their trip to Brasilia and its architect, Oscar Niemeyer. This was shown in his absence at the society’s meeting at the Brazilian Embassy, and he was pleased to know that it was well received

More recently he was able to visit Israel and, despite his lack of sight, managed through his many contacts and friends, to travel round and visit a number of hospitals. It pleased him immensely, that while he was there, he was invited to give a lecture on architecture in the Palestinian city of Ramallah.

His final achievement was his contribution to the winning design in the international competition for the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital in Johannesburg, which is to be built in 2014. He had great respect and admiration for Nelson Mandela and said that what he really wanted was to have had the opportunity to meet him and shake his hand. Yes, and maybe a photo shot too!

It was a measure of Phil’s ability to win the life-long loyalty of his friends that, while over seventy of them were able to attend his funeral two days after his death, a large number of those who were unable to get there gathered in January to hold a wake simultaneously in London and New York to celebrate his life and honour his parting.

Phil Gusack 11.4.1948 – 9.11.2011

Design Council Cabe (formally CABE, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) is recruiting design professionals to join its network of Built Environment Experts (BEEs).

Cabe is looking for a wide range of people from architecture, planning and infrastructure backgrounds, including health specialists.

The Built Environment Experts will form a flexible and diverse network to provide design advice on behalf of Cabe’s clients across England. This could be for a one off event such as reviewing a development proposal or supporting a client to procure good design.

In the past, Cabe drew upon the services of enablers and Design Review panel members to participate in its activities and provide guidance and advice. Cabe is now refreshing this group of experts to form the single network of Built Environment Experts.

Cabe welcomes applications from professionals who can bring an informed expert viewpoint and are committed to championing the value of good design in the built environment.

The deadline for applications is 5.30pm Friday 30 March 2012.

More information and an application form is available on the Design Council Cabe website, http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/CABE/BEE/.

Research title:
Redefining the designer’s role in optimising space flexibility and standardisation during healthcare facility refurbishment using Building Information Modelling (BIM)

Aim of research:
Is to explore key factors that can enhance the designer`s role when designing space flexibility during healthcare refurbishment using BIM.
Targeted respondents are architectural designers, healthcare planners and BIM users. This questionnaire should take about 20 minutes to complete.

https://www.survey.lboro.ac.uk/space3

Is your ward dementia friendly? – The Enhancing the Healing Environment Assessment Tool
Developing supportive design for people with dementia: design principles

Two new resources are now available to download free from The King’s Fund’s web site http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/current_projects/enhancing_the_healing_environment/ehe_design.html

The first, ‘Is your ward dementia friendly’ is an environmental assessment tool which has been designed to be used by people with dementia and carers together with clinical or estates staff to assess the physical environment . The assessment tool can be used in the full range of hospital settings where people with dementia and delirium are cared for including general medical and surgical wards, outpatient departments, continuing care wards and mental health assessment units.  Designed to be user friendly it has been developed and tested with carers and staff who have participated in the Enhancing the Healing Environment (EHE) Programme.
 
The design principles, which are known to support, encourage and enable people with cognitive problems or dementia in unfamiliar buildings, have been developed to reflect current best practice and the learning from the EHE programme. They are intended as a guide for organisations who wish to create more supportive hospital environments for people with cognitive problems or dementia.

The First Global Climate and Health Summit Summit is being co-organized by the World Federation of Public Health Associations, the Climate and Health Council, Health Care Without Harm and the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine at the University of KwaZulu Natal. It is also being organized in partnership with the World Health Organization, the World Medical Association and the International Council of Nurses, among others.

The event will bring key health sector actors from around the world together to discuss the impacts of climate change on public health and solutions that promote greater health, as well as economic equity between and within nations. The Summit will address how the UNFCCC process can best protect public health from the impacts of climate change.

For more information, visit: www.climateandhealthcare.org

At a time of major transformation for public health in England, services aimed at improving well being present a key opportunity to significantly shift approaches towards improving population health.
This NHS Confederation Briefing shares learning with commissioners and providers in the NHS, local government and health and wellbeing boards, to support integration of wellness approaches within existing programmes and services, and scale up system wide change.
www.nhsconfed.org/Publications/Documents/illness_to_wellness_241011.pdf