Cathy Dalton Architect

28/03/2026

29/03/2025

Really beautiful course. I’m no golfer, but used sometimes caddy for my late mother when I was quite young. There was a raven who lived in the wood, who used swoop down and steal golfballs off the green!

01/09/2024

Making sense:

Recent talk on designing therapeutic environments for hearing healthcare for older people. Lots of information on designing for people with hearing impairment, and for older people in general.

https://wsa.showpad.com/share/0LU43YymFEOX6He0cdy1w?fbclid=IwY2xjawFBnQ1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHY5r_TTF_YAB0hO9BsMhw6MRPihXwRc9rOBox1ETeg_pD50Tq8PmJyBEUw_aem_zF2lwx5PHMG0P6jWp9mceg

WPD Session 2 Recording Aug 2024.mp4

19/08/2024

18/12/2023

You might remember that I posted here some weeks when my payment for a subscription Facebook account, which would stop personal data tracking? I complained on Twitter too, and commented that I doubted that it was legitimate to charge for something which is now a legal entitlement, in the EU.

Turns out they're being sued by a digital rights body over it.

My other question is why can't some EU-based digital entrepreneur set up an alternative social media platform that automatically takes EU law into account?

And why are so many public and publicly funded bodies using Facebook, a privately-owned and operated non-EU based platform, which constantly flouts data privacy law, to advertise events?

12/09/2023

I’ll be enrolling for this…the previous River Ecology 101 course at Waterways College Ireland was both fun and hugely informative. If you’re a visitor, stay over in the Barrow Valley, take a walk along the Barrow Way in the morning, have brunch if lunch in a local café

23/08/2023

https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/is-the-ms-decision-a-climate-crisis-turning-point?eea=*EEA*&eea=SElEQ204S0ZnVVMrc2lRRzlham5pU2ExZ1BTc0VuN2dLUWtybVJOUmIyaz0%3D&utm_source=acs&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FABS_AJ_EDI_REGS_DAILY_230823&deliveryName=DM166943
This is very interesting, including in relation to current non-prioritisation of retrofit of housing older than 1940 by government. This about to close to one-fifth of existing housing stock.
Nor is it realistic to assume that every property would reach a level of thermal efficiency which would allow installation of a heat pump. This is not realistic. There's no one-line solution; this is simply lazy thinking. The aim should be to maximise thermal efficiency in all houses, including through thermal upgrading on a phased basis. Current policy and grant systems most certainly do not support this, which is a realistic and pragmatic approach.
I'm calling for all thermal retrofitting to be tax-deductible. If this government is serious about improving thermal efficiency it ought to be; otherwise it is well beyond the reach of many people, and will continue to remain so. This many require dispensing with a whole-building approach other than on a phased basis, and possibly for older houses. Sometimes they are very prudent in terms of siting and aspect, with fewer and smaller winds on north elevations, and heavy wall which can become a thermal store with external insulation. To the best of my knowledge there is no teaching on retrofit in schools or architecture; the focus remains on new-build. This is blind stupidity. I would love to be corrected.

Last month, communities secretary Michael Gove made what many are calling a ‘watershed decision’ by ...

03/11/2016

24/08/2016

http://www.assistid.eu/news/post.php?s=2016-08-22-assistid-fellow-cathy-dalton-presents-at-universal-design-2016-conference

19/08/2016

My latest paper, which I will be presenting next week in York at Universal Design 2016: Learning from the Past, Designing for the Future.

'Interaction Design in the Built Environment: Designing for the 'Universal User'.

https://www.academia.edu/27873279/Interaction_design_in_the_built_environment-_Designing_for_the_Universal_User_.pdf

Interaction design in the built environment: Designing for the ‘Universal User’

18/08/2016

http://www.assistid.eu/news/post.php?s=2016-03-07-spotlight-oncathy-dalton

Meet Dr Cathy Dalton, an ASSISTID Fellow who is researching how our physical environment can be used to reduce anxiety and increase relaxation in children with ASD and/or ID. Cathy, an architect by profession is designing an interactive multisensory room which can automatically sense an individuals…