Based upon ongoing work at FOCAL centered on trauma-informed care, students in FOCAL’s graduate design studios in the Department of Architecture at Kansas State University researched the relationship between art and evidence. Drawing parallels between occupational therapy and immersive artworks, the students examined environmental qualities that can affect people who have experienced trauma, as well as immersive artworks embodying similar qualities: balance, color, ecology, enclosure, immersion, texture, and light.

As part of a larger design studio focused on a youth transitional housing project, this research informed the students’ design work throughout the semester.