A conversation between architect Nanet Mathiasen and ethnobotanist Michael J. Balick – about PEOPLE, NATURE, and DAYLIGHT
BIOGRAPHY
Nanet Mathiasen
Nanet Mathiasen is an architect and researcher at Institute of the Built Environment at Aalborg University. She specializes in architectural lighting design and holds a Ph.D. on Nordic light and architecture.
In her research and teaching, she focuses on the role of daylight in architecture and how various lighting design creates the perceived atmosphere of a space.
Within resent years, Nanet has been occupied with sensory stimuli of light and how to include these effects of light in healthcare architecture with the intention of supporting vulnerable people such as elderly people with dementia.
Noteworthy projects by Nanet Mathiasen include "A Universal Design Perspective on Care Homes for Elderly People with and Without Dementia" (January 2018) and "Daylight conditions in housing–Its role and priority in Danish building regulations" (March 2022).
Michael J. Balick
Michael J. Balick has worked in ethnobotany and ethnomedicine in remote areas of the tropics with people of indigenous cultures, as well as in New York City with people having traditional herbal knowledge from China and the Caribbean. From 1974 to 1975 he lived in Costa Rica and helped build the Wilson Botanical Garden at the Las Cruces Biological Station.
From 1975 to 1997 he was a frequent researcher in Amazonia, where he studied palms and their local uses. He has done research and taught university courses in ethnobotany and ethnomedicine, phytochemistry, floristics and conservation biology.
Ethnobotany is the study of a region's plants and their practical uses through the traditional knowledge of a local culture and people. An ethnobotanist thus strives to document the local customs involving the practical uses of local flora for many aspects of life, such as plants as medicines, foods, intoxicants, and clothing.
Michael J. Balick is the founding member of the Daylight Academy, a scientific academy based in Zurich, Switzerland. In 2023, he joined The Daylight Award jury.
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