Interests: healthy environments, child development, mental health, physical health, civic spaces, learning environments, holistic design, social design, sustainability
Ashley’s research explores how evidence-based design can lead to the construction of therapeutic environments which foster the academic and social growth of adolescents. More specifically, Ashley’s studies at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design aim to identify and investigate how distinct design strategies that can be implemented to reduce stress and promote learning.
Ashley has centered her career on the creation of effective, sustainable public spaces both within and outside of the realm of academic environments to foster collaboration. Before beginning her studies at Harvard, she worked as an architect for several years on academic, civic, and healthcare projects in all stages of design throughout the state of South Carolina. She holds a Bachelors of Arts in Architecture and a Masters in Architecture + Health from Clemson University – the latter of which included an empirically-based thesis project funded through multiple grants which sought to explore effective behavioral healthcare environments for adolescents and identify specific design strategies to facilitate the therapeutic milieu.