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Early recognition emerged from a social psychology background and an education in environment and behavior research, accessibility and falls research, and development of early accessibility standards. Subsequent roles included VA geriatric rehabilitation research architecture, co-founding universal design efforts, enabling remote home modification programs, and serving in assistive technology and environmental access leadership, with occupational therapists as a consistent core collaboration.",{"@graph":69,"@context":123},[70,84,106],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":35,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/whats-an-architect-doing-in-a-place-like-thismy-journey-from-form-to-function-to-facilitate-aging-in-place/421452/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/whats-an-architect-doing-in-a-place-like-thismy-journey-from-form-to-function-to-facilitate-aging-in-place/421452.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Connor ","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-06","2026-09-28",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":105},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",11,{"@type":107,"mainEntity":108},"FAQPage",[109,115,119],{"name":110,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":112},"How did the author’s background influence the design focus on aging in place?","Question",{"text":113,"@type":114},"The journey began with evidence-based, user-centered design and a foundation in social psychology, leading to early awareness of a mismatch between architects’ assumptions and the people they design for.","Answer",{"name":116,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":117},"What educational and funding pathways shaped the author’s career?",{"text":118,"@type":114},"Environment and behavior research at Georgia Tech, along with funding for accessibility and falls research, supported graduate training and later work that created early accessibility standards.",{"name":120,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":121},"What recurring collaboration shaped the projects described?",{"text":122,"@type":114},"Collaboration with occupational therapists (OTs) was a common thread across projects, informing how the architect functioned as research director within an OT program.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":125,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":127,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":129,"site_id":62},421452,1790834306,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":132},{"doc_id":129,"user_id":133,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":34,"category_name":35,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":105,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":8,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":81,"preview_page_count":4},687207022233,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","102 Innovation in Aging, 2025, Vol. 9, No. S2  \nAbstract citation ID: igaf122.337  \nWHAT’S AN ARCHITECT DOING IN A PLACE LIKE THIS?…MY JOURNEY FROM FORM TO FUNCTION TO FACILITATE AGING IN PLACE  \nJon Sanford, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States  \nMy journey in evidence-based, user-centered design to promote activity performance and aging in place started long before these were clinical buzzwords. With an undergraduate degree in social psychology, I recognized early on in my architecture education that there is an inherent disconnect between architects’ assumptions about human needs, preferences, and abilities and the people they design for. As luck would have it, Georgia Tech had one of the earliest programs in environment and behavior research, and funding for accessibility and falls research put me through graduate school. This was followed by my own research funding (which also created a faculty position) for the early accessibility standards. Soon after, I moved on to the new Atlanta VA Rehab R&D Center on Geriatric Rehabilitation, where I was one of 3 research architects in the VA system. At the same time, I helped start the Center on Universal Design at NC State, where I co-authored the Principles of Universal Design. I also secured funding for a Chicago aging-in-place remodeler to develop one of the earliest remote home modifications programs. Then, it was back to GA Tech at the Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA), where I was a professor of industrial design and one of the three founding PIs of RERC TechSAge. The one commonality in each project along the journey has been my collaboration with occupational therapists (OTs). With this in mind, it is easy to see what an architect is doing as the Research Director in an OT program.","cbCaim3Ds6YlJAac","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaim3Ds6YlJAac","pdf",148043,"English","# Background and motivation\n## Evidence-based, user-centered design\n## Architecture education and the human needs gap\n\n# Research, standards, and programs\n## Environment and behavior research training\n## Accessibility standards and falls research\n## Remote home modifications and aging-in-place remodeling\n\n# Roles and collaborations\n## VA geriatric rehabilitation research architecture\n## Center on Universal Design and Universal Design principles\n## Assistive technology leadership and OT collaboration","[{\"question\":\"How did the author’s background influence the design focus on aging in place?\",\"answer\":\"The journey began with evidence-based, user-centered design and a foundation in social psychology, leading to early awareness of a mismatch between architects’ assumptions and the people they design for.\"},{\"question\":\"What educational and funding pathways shaped the author’s career?\",\"answer\":\"Environment and behavior research at Georgia Tech, along with funding for accessibility and falls research, supported graduate training and later work that created early accessibility standards.\"},{\"question\":\"What recurring collaboration shaped the projects described?\",\"answer\":\"Collaboration with occupational therapists (OTs) was a common thread across projects, informing how the architect functioned as research director within an OT program.\"}]","WHAT’S AN ARCHITECT DOING IN A PLACE LIKE THIS?…MY JOURNEY FROM FORM TO FUNCTION TO FACILITATE AGING IN PLACE | PDF",1790624903]