George J. Mann, AIA

George J. Mann, AIA is a Professor of Architecture and the Ronald L. Skaggs, FAIA Endowed Professor of Health Facilities Design at Texas A&M University. He has a national and international reputation as a leader in health facilities design. He has had over 59 years of pioneering experience in the field of “Architecture for Health” through his integrated architectural research, teaching, consulting, practice, speaking, and writing. In 1966 he founded the unique “Architecture for Health” Program at Texas A&M University.

Today this unique program has become the leading research and design “Architecture for Health” Program in the world. Professor Mann has also published numerous articles, and research reports, giving presentations of his findings on both a national and international level. He has organized numerous national and international conferences related to integrated teaching, research, practice, and consulting. Professor Mann has served as a faculty member at Kansas State University; Columbia University to direct the Health Services Design program in the GSAAP (Graduate School of Architecture Planning & Preservation) from 1974 – 1976; The University of Tokyo; Nagoya City University; was named The Lady Davis Visiting Professor, Technion (Israel Institute of Technology), to initiate an “Architecture for Health” Program, and at Texas A&M University, his home base since 1966. He has guided the architectural education of over 4500 students, many of whom now lead the architecture for health field all across the globe. Professor Mann has attracted over $3.5 million in sponsored grants and research contracts to Texas A&M University.

Philosophy
Professor Mann’s philosophy is to integrate research, teaching and closely related architectural practice, into his architectural research and design studios, by undertaking actual design projects on sites with architects, landscape architects, constructors and clients. He also utilizes structural and mechanical systems, landscape architecture and other experts and professors wherever possible, in his research and design studios. In addition he is a firm believer in involving the user (client) in the design process, as well as the general public.

Background & Education
He was born in Vienna, Austria, lived in Shanghai, China and grew up and was educated in New York City. Professor Mann is a graduate of the special High School of Music & Art in New York City where he was an art student and was also enrolled in an architectural design studio. He was awarded a New York State Regents Scholarship to enroll in Columbia College in New York City. Professor Mann was admitted to Columbia College and enrolled in the 2 year liberal arts pre – architecture program. He then was accepted into the Columbia University School of Architecture (now known as the GSAPP – Graduate School of Architecture Planning & Preservation). His thesis project was the design of an actual 600 bed hospital for Imphal, in Assam, India for the Ministry of Health in New Delhi, India. He had written 20 different Ministries of Health in 20 different countries and received one response from Mr. J.D. Shastri, Chief Architect for the Government of India’s Ministry of Health offering to work with a Columbia student on his final study. George J. Mann accepted, and this offer and his acceptance changed his life as he realized that there was a tremendous need for appropriate health facilities all over the world. After graduating from the Columbia University School of Architecture with a Bachelor of Architecture, he was awarded a full tuition fellowship to enroll in the first class in Health Services Planning & Design, leading to a Master of Science in Architecture for Health, (awarded jointly by the Columbia University School of Architecture and School of Public Health). Upon graduation he was awarded a William Kinne Fellows traveling 5 month Fellowship to study health facilities in Europe and the Middle East.

Architectural Practice
Professor Mann apprenticed with I.M. Pei and Associates; Skidmore Owings and Merrill Architects; Isadore & Zachary Rosenfield, Architects; The Office of York & Sawyer, Architects; Westermann & Miller, Architects, all in New York City and Floyd Wolfenbarger in Manhattan, Kansas, Harsen & Johns in Tenafly, New Jersey; and Seymour Seiler in Liberty, New York.

Private Consulting Practice as a Founding Principal
In 1963, he founded George J. Mann and Associates, Planners, and Architects. In 1971, he founded RPD – Resource Planning and Development. In 1980, he reorganized these two entities into the RPD (Resource Planning & Development) Group.

Research & Teaching Experience
Professor Mann has served as a faculty member at Kansas State University, Columbia University, The University of Tokyo, (He was the first American Visiting Professor in the Department of Architecture); Nagoya City University; He was named The Lady Davis Visiting Professor, Technion (Israel Institute of Technology), to initiate an “Architecture for Health” Program, and at Texas A&M University, his home base since 1966. He has guided the architectural education of over 4500 students, many of whom now lead the architecture for health field all across the globe. Professor Mann has attracted over $3.5 million in sponsored grants and research contracts to Texas A&M University. In addition he has worked closely with leading “Architecture for Health” advisory teaching firms such as HKS, HDR, ESA, and FKP /CannonDesign and other HIAC firms.

In 2016 he was a Consultant to Dammam University to establish an “Architecture for Health Program in Dammam,” Saudi Arabia
In the summer of 2017 he was retained as a Consultant to the Division of Architecture and Environmental Design, Tyler School of Art, Temple University Philadelphia, PA to establish a joint “Architecture for Health” Program with the School of Public Health, Temple University, Summer 2017.

Professor Mann regularly invites groups of students to attend the major health and design conventions and symposium both in the United States and abroad.

Innovations
In 1999, together with Dr. Yasushi Nagasawa of the University of Tokyo, he founded GUPHA – Global University Programs in Healthcare Architecture. In 2000, he was elected the first president of GUPHA. Professor Mann was one of the founders of Texas A&M University’s HIAC – Health Industry Advisory Council in 2002. He is currently on the editorial advisory board of MCD – Medical Construction and Design and served several years on the Editorial Board of HCD – Healthcare Design Magazine.

Visiting Lecture Series now on PBS and YouTube In 2009 Professor Mann first organized the weekly “Architecture for Health” Visiting Lecture Series, which began a formal weekly program at KAMU TV, the PBS affiliated Texas A&M University broadcasting entity. These weekly programs are then uploaded to PBS and YouTube. This helps project the cutting edge and accurate image of Texas A&M University’s “Architecture for Health” program all over the world, as well as providing a national and international forum, for new ideas in the fast paced field of research, design and construction and operation of architecture for health projects. This lecture series was formalized in 2009.

Design Innovations & Integration of Architectural Research, Teaching & Practice
Professor Mann believes that the design studio needs to be changed into a research and design studio, thus building on his premise that every architectural design project is actually a research and design effort. Thus integrating separate tracks into one interrelated-track. He alsobelieves in interdisciplinary vertical and horizontal studios comprised of students from different levels in the School of Architecture, as well as other Colleges, particularly the Texas A&M Health Science Center, College of Medicine, and School of Public Health.

Professor Mann and his current and former students have been involved in over 850 facility projects world-wide. Selected projects that he has been involved with are: the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas; CMMC – Children’s Memorial Medical Center in Chicago; Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Dallas; Children’s Medical Center in Dallas; St. Joseph Health Center in Bryan, Texas; Scott & White Hospital in Temple, Texas; Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera, Israel; Ha’emek Medical Center in Afula, Israel; A Flying Eye Hospital in a DC-10; Mercy Hospital Ships, Design of the Asian Mercy; A Rehabilitation Center for Landmine Victims in Leon, Nicaragua; CMMT – Center for Medical Mission Training in Las Cruces, Guatemala; A Children’s Hospital for the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta; A Clinic in El Salvador; MUHC, (McGill University Health Centre,) Montreal; Houston Hospice; TIRR – The Institute of Research and Rehabilitation, Houston, Texas; AMH – American Mission Hospital, Bahrain; Family Practice Center, The New Texas A&M Health Science Center, Bryan, Texas; Student Health Center, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas; the Kruse Memorial Lutheran Village, Brenham, Texas; ERV / An Emergency Response Vehicle / Ambulance; HRCA – Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for Aged, Boston, Mass; Design of Safer School Buses; S.O.S.,- Save Our Streets Ministries, Bryan, Texas; Scotty’s House, Bryan, Texas; Hadassah Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel; Project Mandy, ( Designing a Home for a Quadriplegic ) Bryan, Texas; Mansfield Medical Center, Mansfield, Texas; Hatfield Hospital, Hertfordshire, UK; A Women’s Shelter in Hempstead, Texas; Toward 2056, “A Vision of the New Texas A&M University System Health Science Center,” in College Station, Texas; Twin City Mission Homeless Shelter, Bryan, Texas; Eye Hospital in Puyang, China; Community Hospital Project in Roátan, Honduras; Student Health Center, Texas A&M University, Design and Master Planning of Thompson & Grace Medical City, (including a an adult specialty hospital of 800 beds and the first children’s hospital for Akwa Ibom, Nigeria, a country of almost 200 million people ) ; UBRICA A new Bio Medical Industrial City, Kenya; Texas Scottish Rite Hospital Sports Medicine Center in Frisco, Texas; NTU National Taiwan University Cancer Center, Taipei, Taiwan; Hainan Island Cancer Center, China; Ambulatory Care Center for Kaiser Permanente Health Plan in Northern Virginia; A Surgical Hospital for Texas Health at Harris Methodist Hospital in Ft. Worth; A New Radiation Oncology Center for Treating Cancer Patients, in Bellflower, California for Kaiser Permanente Health Plan; and many others too numerous to list here.

He has worked with WHO (World Health Organization) and the UNDP (United Nations Development Program). Since 1974 he has been a member of the UIA / PHG (International Union of Architects / Public Health Group) attending his first meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. In 2007 he was named the official representative of the AIA (American Institute of Architects) to the UIA / PHG. In 2012 he was elected its Director. He is now a member of its executive committee. Since 1970 he has been a member of the AAH (American Academy of Architecture for Health) and in recent years, a member of its leadership Board.

Professor Mann has mentored 21 AIA / AHA (Master of Architecture) Fellows. Professor Mann has lectured on health facilities design to the IHF (International Hospital Federation), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Georgia Tech; Clemson University; City University of New York; Washington University in St. Louis; Tel Aviv University and the Desert Architecture Unit in Sde Boqer, The Technion in Haifa, Israel; Hong Kong Hospital Authority; UIA / PHG ( International Union of Architects / Public Health Group in Nairobi, Kenya; Moscow, Russia; Warsaw, Poland, University of Florence, Italy; The Architectural Institute of Korea and Han Yan University, Seoul; Thessaloniki, University. Greece, Ottawa, Canada; Manila, Philippines; Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; The Board of Directors of the Kaiser Permanente Health Plan in Oxnard, California; the Technological Institute in Monterrey, Mexico; Clemson University’s Daniel Center in Genoa, Italy; Nashville; Chicago; Orlando; Sun Valley, Idaho; Gatlinburg, Tennessee, Boston; Tsingua University, Beijing, China; Tongji University, Shanghai, China; Southeast University in Nanjing, China; Dalian, China; the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; and Hames Sharley, Architects, Perth, Australia; Singapore National University, and the UIA / PHG (International Union of Architects / Public Health Group) in Pretoria, South Africa; Kuala Lumpur; TESIS, University of Florence, Italy; Tunis, Tunisia.

Publications
Professor Mann has published widely including articles in World Hospitals, the AIA Journal, Hospitals, Modern Healthcare, Texas Hospitals, MCD – Medical Design & Construction, HCD – Healthcare Design Magazine, and the “Architecture for Health” Program has been repeatedly cited in other publications all over the world.

Honors & Awards
Professor Mann received the high honor of being invited to deliver the Texas A&M University Lecture in 1989. The title of that lecture was, “People, Resources, and Architecture: 21st Century Challenges.” He was also the recipient of the former President George H. W. Bush Excellence in Service Award in 2003. He received an award of recognition from the AIA Academy of Architecture for Inspiring Young Minds in Healthcare Architecture, 2004. In 2007, he received an ‘Award of Appreciation’ at the International Conference and Exhibition on Health Facility Planning, Design and Construction (PDC), cosponsored by ASHE/AHA (American Hospital Association) and AIA / AAH (American Institute of Architects / Academy of Architecture for Health.) In 2010, Professor Mann was awarded the First Dean J. Thomas Regan Award for Interdisciplinary Research, Design, and Teaching from the School of Architecture, Texas A&M University and was also a recipient of a Faculty Development Award. In 2014, he was awarded the Lifetime Leadership Award by the International Academy for Design & Health. Professor Mann also received the HCD Healthcare Design Educator of the Year, Award 2015 in Washington, D.C. in November 2015.

Also In 2017, his former students, Ronald L. Skaggs, FAIA and Joseph G. Sprague, FAIA, led an initiative to honor Professor Mann’s long standing contributions to the field of “Architecture for Health” and Texas A&M University and to establish the Professor George J. Mann Endowed Chair in Health Facilities Design which will raise $500,000 and be matched by an additional $500,000 from the Texas A&M Development Foundation totaling $1 million for a qualified leading “architecture for health” professional, to take the “Architecture for Health” Program to new heights of leadership in the future.

In 2019 he was awarded a Lifetime Fellowship with the International Academy for Design & Health, in recognition as a previous Lifetime Award winner

He was recognized as an honorary alumni member of the Graduate Program in Architecture + Health, at Clemson University, in Phoenix Arizona in 2019.

Summary & Future Challenges & Goals
Professor Mann’s goal is to further assist the CHSD – Center for Health Systems & Design, Department of Architecture, School of Architecture, Texas A&M University in developing the Center as the world’s leader in research, design, construction operation of health and hospital facilities, mentoring faculty and students, relate to former students, raise funds, accept speaking invitations around the world, and undertake special projects as the need arises. Some areas that need to be addressed further include Design for the Elderly, Behavioral Health, Children and the international arena such as Africa, Asia, Central & South America.

He also plans to continue to strengthen the “Architecture for Health” Visiting Lecture Serieson PBS TV.

Prof. Mann has 50 years experience designing health facilities, through his practice, teaching and research. He has established an international reputation as a leader in health facilities design, taught over 4,000 students, undertaken over 800 architecture for health projects internationally.