Resources Portal
Thank you for registering to access NOVELL Redesign resources. Please use the links below to navigate to our publications and resources.
NOVELL publications
Peer-reviewed publications from the NOVELL project
This paper presents the first phase of the NOVELL Redesign project, using co-design workshops with stroke survivors, clinicians, and designers to generate actionable design ideas and visionary scenarios for reimagining inpatient stroke rehabilitation facilities. The findings provide a practical blueprint for architects and healthcare planners to create environments that better support stroke recovery.
The economic case for investing in innovative stroke rehabilitation design, comparing a standard ward layout against three evidence-based alternatives. This paper provides a compelling financial argument for hospitals and policymakers to embrace better-designed rehabilitation environments.
This paper translates stakeholder insights into concrete recommendations for redesigning the day-to-day delivery of inpatient stroke rehabilitation services — covering everything from admission through to evening routines. The findings provide a blueprint for services seeking to align clinical practice with the physical environment for stroke recovery. Contact the research team for an author copy of the manuscript.
This scoping review maps the existing evidence on nature-based design in stroke rehabilitation facilities. The review offers a novel framework for mapping the intentions and impacts of nature-based spaces and services, a practical tool for guiding future research and design decisions across healthcare settings more broadly.
The first systematic, country-wide review of how stroke rehabilitation facilities in Australia are currently designed. Key design typologies are identified across site, building, ward, and room levels, revealing significant gaps in innovation and purpose-built design, and offering evidence-based recommendations to inform better guidelines and future facilities that more effectively support stroke survivors' recovery.
This paper describes the innovative VR approach that was integral to the NOVELL method for involving stroke survivors directly in healthcare design decisions. This approach demonstrates that immersive VR is a feasible and effective way to capture meaningful design preferences from people with brain injuries — opening a new pathway for genuinely patient-centred, evidence-based design across healthcare settings.
Stroke care is ideally guided by Clinical Practice Guidelines, and the rehabilitation built environment should serve to optimize care delivery, patient and staff experience. In this article, we aimed to articulate the inpatient stroke rehabilitation process of care in a series of process maps, and to understand the degree to which current stroke clinical and building construction (ie, design) guidelines align to support inpatient stroke rehabilitation. Contact the research team for an author copy of the manuscript.
In this narrative review, we outline why the healthcare environment matters and describe areas of research focus and current built environment evidence that supports healthcare in general and stroke care in particular.
In this systematic review, we identify, appraise and synthesise existing design evidence for inpatient stroke rehabilitation facilities. We also identify impacts of these built environments on the outcomes and experiences of people recovering from stroke, their family/caregivers and staff.
NOVELL Exhibition
In November 2023, we launched the NOVELL Exhibition in Melbourne, showcasing the methods and outputs from the project. Read all about it in our blog post.
The exhibition has since toured in London (European Health Design Congress, 2024) and at the 2024 Venice Biennale, reaching thousands of viewers.
Contact the NOVELL team if you would like to know more about the exhibition, or if you are interested in showing it within your organisation.
NOVELL Showcase 2
In August 2023, we hosted our second showcase event which included a video presentation session, a workshop session (mapping out a new care process for stroke rehabilitation), and the first of our VR evaluation sessions. Because not all of our co-researcher partners were able to attend, we have included some of the video presentations below.
Presentation from NOVELL team member Dr JP Saa.
Title: A care process map for stroke rehabilitation.
NOVELL Showcase 1
In April 2023, we hosted our first showcase event, sharing some of the exciting findings and outputs from the project so far. Because not all of our co-researcher partners were able to attend, we have recorded versions of our presentations that you can watch in the videos below.
What is it like to be a stroke survivor?
Who are we designing for?
Everyone’s stroke journey is unique, but in this short video, one of our fabulous stroke survivors, Brooke, describes her experience of having a stroke, and the long recovery journey she had afterwards.
If you would like to view further stories about the experience of stroke, the Stroke Foundation of Australia has put together a playlist of stroke survivors’ stories.
Other Resources
As part of the evaluation of the first stage of the NOVELL Redesign project, we conducted a Value Network Analysis to capture learnings about working in a living lab, and collaborating through virtual engagement technologies. You can read the report on this process by clicking the link below.
Value Network Analysis
Rehabilitation Futures
Our Rehabilitation Futures document describes a visionary stroke rehabilitation environment and service. Based on our research evidence, we used a Speculative and Experiential Futures process to a new kind of briefing document, one that focuses on the experiences of the person - how different people will inhabit and experience the new, imagined space.
In April 2021, we hosted the 7th Optimising Health Environments forum. The forum brought together people who work in creating and/or operating health environments. You can access more information about the event, and recordings of these presentations by clicking below.
Optimising Health Environments Forum
NOVELL Final Report
This report summarises the aims, outputs, and impact of the NOVELL Redesign study. This report was written at the conclusion of initial project funding. Further work and disseminations have continued since (see NOVELL Exhibition, Conferences, and Publications above).
Seminars
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Michelle Shannon is a neurological physiotherapist (adults) who submitted her Ph.D. in June 2022. Her Ph.D. was supervised by Prof. Julie Bernhardt, Prof. Marcus White, Prof Alan Pert, and Prof. Marie Elf.
Watch the seminar here
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Professor Marie Elf holds a position as Professor in Nursing and as an Associate Professor in healthcare architecture. She works as a Lecturer at Dalarna University at the department of Nursing. Her background is nursing and caring sciences.
Watch the seminar here
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Dr. Maja Kevdzija, EDAC is an Assistant Professor in Healthcare Design at the Faculty of Architecture and Planning at TU Wien, Austria. She was educated as an architect (Bachelor and Master studies) and her interest in rehabilitation environments developed during her Master studies at TU Delft.
Watch the seminar here
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Silver Thomas Hanley, now known as STH, is an international architecture healthcare design practice with over 43 years of experience delivering innovative healthcare solutions.
Watch the seminar here
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Professor Klaus Gramann from the Technical University Berlin is at the forefront of research in the use of mobile EEG to explore natural cognition in built environments.
Watch the seminar here
Selected Conferences and Presentations
Davis, A., Lam, M., Yang, T., & White, M. 2024. A new way to design environments and services: The Neuroscience Optimised Virtual Environments Living Lab (NOVELL). ARCH24 Conference, Finland.
Lipson-Smith, R., Lam, M., Yang, T., & White, M. 2024. Outcomes from the NOVELL method: A living lab for rethinking rehabilitation design and services. European Healthcare Design (EHD) Conference, London, UK.
Davis, A and Lipson-Smith, R. 2024. The NOVELL Redesign project: A healthcare design Living Lab for rethinking stroke rehabilitation design and services. Design4Health, Sheffield, UK.
Bernhardt, J. 2023. ‘A thriving Living Lab for healthcare: Lessons from NOVELL.’ Australian Health Design Conference, Melbourne.
Davis, A and Lipson-Smith, R. 2023. ‘Innovative methods for building evidence for rehabilitation environments’, Australian Health Design Council, online seminar series.
Lipson-Smith, R. 2023. ‘Value in health design: A research perspective’, Melbourne Design Week: Designing for Health – Creating Social Value, speaker and panellist.
Lipson-Smith, R and Davis A. 2023. ‘Technology and innovation in The Neuroscience Optimised Virtual Environments Living Lab (NOVELL) Project’, Care is Care Study – Optimising virtual and digital healthcare, online presentation.
Davis, A 2022, ‘NOVELL Redesign: A living lab approach to co-designing with stroke survivors’, Invited Presentation: Stroke Society of Australasia Conference, Christchurch, NZ, 2 September.
Davis, A, Lipson-Smith, R & White, M, ‘The Neuroscience Optimised Virtual Enviornments Living Laboratory (NOVELL)’, Conference Presentation: 2021 ACHSM Asia-Pacific health leadership congress, 14 October 2021.
Davis, A, Lipson-Smith, R Banaei, M, Pflaumer, L, White, M, Elf, M, Zeeman, H, Churilov, L & Bernhardt, J on behalf of the NOVELL Collaboration, Between social and technical research: The Neuroscience Optimised Virtual Environments Living Lab (NOVELL) Method, ARCH22 ‘Enabling health, care and well-being through design research' 5th Architecture Research Care and Health conference, Delft / Rotterdam – the Netherlands – 22nd until 24th of August 2022.
Bernhardt, J, Davis, A, Lipson-Smith, R Banaei, M, Saa, JP, Pflaumer, L, Zeeman, H & Lipson-Smith, R, ‘The NOVELL Method’, European Healthcare Design Conference 2022, London, UK.
Lipson-Smith, R, Davis, A & Bernhardt, J, ‘The Neuroscience Optimised Virtual Environments Living Laboratory (NOVELL)’, Invited Presentation: Stroke Program in Neurorecovery (SPiN), 20 July 2021, Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery.
Lipson-Smith, R & Davis, A, ‘The Neuroscience Optimised Virtual Environments Living Lab (NOVELL) Project’, Conference Presentation: The 7th Optimising Health Environments Forum, Adelaide, Melbourne and Online, 21 April 2021.
Other publications
Selected publications co-authored by NOVELL Team Members (in bold) central to or resulting from the project
Ruby Lipson-Smith, Heidi Zeeman, Leanne Muns, Faraz Jeddi, Janine Simondson, and Julie Bernhardt
Ruby Lipson-Smith, Leonid Churilov, Clare Newton, Heidi Zeeman, and Julie Bernhardt
This paper reports mixed-methods multiple-case study at two inpatient rehabilitation facilities in Victoria, Australia, and presents a new conceptual model of the role of the physical environment in stroke survivors’ behaviour and well-being, highlighting the importance of variety and interest, privacy without isolation, and patient-centred design.
This paper describes the first iteration of the framework of objectives that have informed NOVELL target areas.
Michelle Shannon, Marie Elf, Ruby Lipson-Smith, and Julie Bernhardt
A systematic literature review of research conducted on the impact of bedroom design for people with neurological disorders, brain injury, and stroke.
Michelle Shannon, Marie Elf, Leonid Churilov, and Julie Bernhardt
An early pilot study exploring the impact of the built environment for neurological populations including stroke.
Aaron Davis, Ian Gwilt, Niki Wallace, and Joe Langley
This paper introduces a spatiotemporal mapping of co-design as a way of enhancing engagement practices. It describes methods that have been developed through the NOVELL project and provides an overarching structure for planning and carrrying out engagement within living labs.
Heidi Janssen, Marie-Louise Bird, Julie Luker, Annie McCluskey, Jannette Blennerhassett, Louise Ada, Julie Bernhardt, and Neil Spratt
This paper investigated stroke survivors' perceptions of factors influencing their engagement in activity outside of dedicated therapy sessions during inpatient rehabilitation, providing key insights for the NOVELL Project.
Kathryn Hayward and Aaron Davis
This paper stemmed from the NOVELL collaboration and responds to the challenge of presenting complex scientific research to non-specialist audiences, a key area of interest in the living lab. It presents a variety of different visualisation approaches that can be used to enhance stakeholder engagement in research.
Joe Langley, Niki Wallace, Aaron Davis, Ian Gwilt, Sarah Knowles, Rebecca Partridge, Gemma Wheeler, and Ursula Ankeny
This book chapter shares the experience of NOVELL as part of a transition to new ways of working in living labs and co-design in response to COVID-19.
*denotes publications that are not open access. Please contact us if you want to access one of these publications.
Contribution Opportunities
Participate as a Co-Researcher
NOVELL Redesign is committed to engaging with people with lived experience of undertaking rehabilitation following stroke, their families and carers, people who work in these environments, and people who are designing these environments. If you are interested in participating in the project, please look at the information on the partnering page, and get in touch with us if you would like to take part at the co-researcher, affiliate, or full collaborator level.
