Donald Cremers, CID, IIDA, senior principal and senior project interior designer, HOK (San Francisco)
With a career spanning diverse project types and sectors, including luxury hospitality design, Donald Cremers transitioned to healthcare design 25 years ago. Since then, he has championed a human-centered approach that brings fresh ideas and innovative concepts to projects while emphasizing the vital role interior designers play in creating healing environments and supporting clinical success.
Over the past year, he’s been instrumental as the interior design lead for City of Hope Orange County Cancer Specialty Hospital in Irvine, Calif., which opened in December 2025.
Human-centered healthcare interior design for cancer care environments
His design philosophy begins with a fundamental question: How do we create comfort in inherently uncomfortable situations? For cancer patients facing extended hospitalizations, Cremers integrated choice and control into every design decision.
At City of Hope, patients can reposition furniture and adjust lighting and temperature, helping restore agency and comfort to individuals navigating situations where choices are limited. His use of hospitality-inspired amenities, such as adaptable furniture, gives patients additional choice and control. An upright chair, for example, encourages patient mobility, and sofas with integrated tables offer visitors a comfortable place to sit with their loved one.
Daylighting, hospitality design, and culturally responsive healthcare interiors
He also employed an innovative daylighting strategy at City of Hope, using the facility’s compact design to bring natural light into every working space, including windowed imaging and procedure rooms. This feature benefits patients as well as staff who work extended shifts, promoting both healing and workplace wellness in a single solution.
To support a calming atmosphere, Cremers concealed clinical utilities within family-suite patient rooms and curated material palettes reminiscent of a high-end hotel. Moreover, he applied Feng Shui principles throughout the hospital to better serve the healthcare facility’s large Asian patient demographic, illustrating the importance of culturally responsive design.
As a thought leader, Cremers advances the field through HOK’s monthly healthcare design forum, a knowledge-sharing initiative he expanded from interior designers to include architects, medical planners, and project managers across the firm’s global studios to ensure design excellence scales beyond individual projects.
Through his work, Cremers is poised to continue elevating interior design as an essential partner in creating healing environments that serve the full spectrum of human needs during vulnerable moments.
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