Sally Castrianni, NCIDQ, lead healthcare planner, Array Architects
A lead healthcare planner at Array Architects (Philadelphia) with a background in interior design, Sally Castrianni brings an interdisciplinary lens to her project work, helping connect operational performance, spatial clarity, and user experience in the earliest stages of planning.
Castrianni earned a master’s degree in interior design from Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia). Over nine years focused on healthcare, she’s built a practice grounded in listening. In the past year alone, she’s worked on more than 500,000 square feet of healthcare environments and led dozens of stakeholder workshops, guiding diverse user groups through complex planning decisions.
At the new MUSC Hollings Cancer Center at Florence Medical Center, a 63,000-square-foot outpatient facility in Florence, S.C., opening winter 2028, Castrianni shaped an infusion environment built around patient choice. The design offers private rooms, semiprivate bays, and communal infusion areas, each with access to daylight and the flexibility to adapt as care models change.
Through mock-ups and in-depth conversations with stakeholders, she also advocated for the spaces that support patients beyond their clinical needs, including a café and care studio offering resources such as wigs, prosthetics, apparel, and private consultation space. Stakeholders on the project described her approach as “a breath of fresh air.”
Castrianni is also leading planning for a 178,000-square-foot pediatric rehabilitation center for a confidential client. Developed in partnership with Ronald McDonald House, the project pairs an intensive day hospital with supportive housing, a combination that requires her to align clinical care, patient experience, and support services into a cohesive, future-ready environment.
Within the firm, she is helping raise the bar by advancing internal planning standards, refining the firm’s color palettes and organizational frameworks, and building a course on planning presentation skills for Array’s learning platform.
Here, Castrianni talks about her career path, favorite project to date, and what industry challenge she’d like to tackle.
Q+A with Sally Castrianni, 2026 HCD Rising Star
Healthcare Design: What drew you to a career in healthcare design?
Sally Castrianni: I’ve always loved design, but what drew me to healthcare was the opportunity to solve complex problems that make a real difference in people’s lives. Every project is different, and I enjoy working closely with clinicians and staff to understand how they provide care before translating those needs into thoughtful, functional spaces. It’s rewarding to know that the decisions we make today can positively impact patients and caregivers for years to come.
HCD: Describe your design approach in 10 words or less.
Castrianni: Collaborative, curious, and focused on people first.
HCD: What are you working on now?
Castrianni: I’m currently working on the planning and design of a major university hospital expansion. We’ve spent a lot of time partnering with clinicians and staff to understand how they work and what they need from the future hospital. By the time this is published, we’ll likely be in design development, which is always exciting because you start to see all of those early conversations come to life. It’s rewarding to watch the vision gradually become a real building.
HCD: What has been your most rewarding project to date?
Castrianni: The new tower addition at Northside Hospital Cherokee in Canton, Ga., has been especially rewarding because it demonstrated what can happen when a multidisciplinary team is truly aligned around a shared goal. Engineers, construction partners, consultants, the client and end users, and colleagues across multiple Array offices worked within a highly collaborative structure where team members at every level were engaged in testing ideas and shaping decisions. For me, the combination of thoughtful planning, meaningful collaboration, and a shared commitment to a long-term vision is what has made the project particularly rewarding.
HCD: How do you define success?
Castrianni: Creating spaces that truly work for the people who use them. If clinicians feel heard, patients have a better experience, and the client trusts us enough to call us for the next project, I’d consider that a success. Great design is important, but building trust along the way matters just as much.
HCD: What’s a challenge you’d like to see the healthcare design industry address in the coming year—and why?
Castrianni: I’d love to see more focus on designing healthcare spaces that can adapt over time. Healthcare is changing quickly, and it’s becoming harder to predict exactly what organizations will need five or 10 years from now. The more flexibility we can build into our designs, the better prepared our clients will be for whatever comes next.
HCD: What’s a must-have skill you think any healthcare designer needs to succeed today?
Castrianni: Curiosity. Every client, department, and care team works a little differently, so asking good questions is just as important as having technical knowledge. Taking the time to listen and understand how people work almost always leads to better design solutions.
Recognition at the 2026 HCD Conference + Expo
The 2026 Rising Stars will be celebrated during an Awards Luncheon at the Healthcare Design Conference + Expo, Oct. 17-20 in New Orleans. Find updates and additional information on the event here.
Click here to read more about all of HCD’s 2026 Rising Stars.
