Altaf Engineer

About

Altaf Engineer is an Associate Professor at the School of Architecture and the University of Arizona Institute on Place, Wellbeing & Performance (UA IPWP), an interdisciplinary institute linking expertise from the UA College of Medicine - Tucson, the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine, and the UA College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (CAPLA). He serves as Co-Director of the Healthy Designs Lab at CAPLA, which is affiliated with the Drachman Institute, and is also the Faculty Advisor for the Health and Built Environment concentration in the Master of Science in Architecture degree program. Altaf holds a PhD in Architecture and a Master of Architecture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was an Illinois Distinguished Fellow and received the ARCC King’s Merit Medal for Excellence in Architectural + Environmental Behavior Research. He earned his Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Mumbai, India, and is a registered architect in New York, USA, as well as a LEED Accredited Professional. His professional experience includes sustainable higher education buildings, institutional buildings, adaptive re-use, and residential projects. His scholarship, teaching, and practice focus on health and wellbeing in the built environment, with particular attention to daylighting, social and behavioral issues, occupant comfort, and indoor air quality. Altaf has authored books on the impact of the built environment on health,…

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Engineering
• Psychology
• Human–computer interaction
• Architectural engineering
• Civil engineering

Selected publications

• An integrative health framework for wellbeing in the built environment

  Building and Environment · 2021 · 75 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Designing Interiors to Mitigate Physical and Cognitive Deficits Related to Aging and to Promote Longevity in Older Adults: A Review

  Gerontology · 2018-01-01 · 51 citations

  reviewOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  BACKGROUND: With the increasing global population of older adults, there is a need for environmental interventions that directly affect their physical, psychological, and emotional well-being to help them maintain or regain their independence and autonomy - all of which promote longevity. METHODS: To better understand potential opportunities and challenges associated with interior design and "future homes" that may promote well-being, aging in place, and independent living in older adults, the a…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Healing Spaces: Designing Physical Environments to Optimize Health, Wellbeing, and Performance

  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · 2020-02-12 · 16 citations

  editorialOpen access1st author

  This Special Issue on Healing Spaces includes eight articles consisting of studies at the interface between design and health. The articles address some of the latest findings using state-of-the-art technologies, important outcomes for human health and wellbeing, and suggest exciting directions for the future of this research field.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Daylighting Glare and Design for Visual Comfort

  Technology|Architecture + Design · 2024-01-02 · 5 citations

  article

  Daylighting and glare simulation provide architecture students, professionals, and researchers with the knowledge and skillsets to design environments for visual comfort. Conducting simulations is essential for better human health and reducing building energy consumption. This paper evaluates the effectiveness of a mixed-methods approach to designing a glare-free environment in a hot-arid region. It examines daylighting and glare distributions in different scenarios with combinations of architec…

  PublisherDOI

• Trauma, place, and transformation

  Archive for the Psychology of Religion · 2019-03-01 · 4 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  This commentary comprises three different responses to Counted and Zock’s article: “Place Spirituality: An Attachment Perspective.” The first response is from Esther Sternberg, MD, who gives a psychophysiological and neuroscience critique. The second is from Altaf Engineer, PhD, from the perspective of architecture and environmental psychology, and the last response is from Hester Oberman, PhD, who gives a psychology of religion rebuttal.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Esther Sternberg

  University of Arizona

  14 shared

• Aletheia Ida

  University of Arizona

  11 shared

• Wooyoung Jung

  University of Arizona

  10 shared

• Kathryn H. Anthony

  6 shared

• Ria J. Gualano

  Cornell University

  2 shared

• AnnaMarie Bliss

  1 shared

• Andrew Weil

  1 shared

• Lipi Verma

  Swami Rama Himalayan University

  1 shared

Awards & honors

• Illinois Distinguished Fellow (University of Illinois at Urb…
• ARCC King’s Merit Medal for Excellence in Architectural + En…
• 2018 Emerging Legacy Award from the College of Fine and Appl…
• Faculty Award for Research Excellence from the University of…
• German Design Council Iconic Award 2016

Similar researchers at University of Arizona

• Jonathan Beanh-13
• Courtney Crossonh-7
• Susannah Dickinsonh-1