As more and more hospitals and medical centers integrate themselves further into their communities, becoming a place for medical care as well as community meetings and wellness programs, space design is evolving to become more regionally focused. From materials palettes to curated art collections, these touches further break down the walls and create inviting places where patients can feel calm, cared for, and connected.
For patients receiving treatment at the Immanuel Medical Center Cancer Center in Omaha, Neb., their surroundings were given a facelift this summer when the hospital unveiled a new Inspiration Garden.
“We hope this garden will provide patients and families with peace, perspective, and promise amidst a difficult diagnosis and treatment regime," said Ann Schumacher, Immanuel Medical Center president and chief operating officer, in a release.
When Cleveland Clinic decided to add an ultra-high resolution 7T MRI scanner to its main campus in downtown Cleveland, it didn’t just have to figure out how to transport and install an 80,000-pound magnet. It first had to build the right facility to house such a powerful machine.
Columbia University Medical Center’s (CUMC) flagship practice relocated to the center of midtown Manhattan where it transformed a corporate office space into a high-performance ambulatory care facility. The patient-focused center, designed by Perkins+Will (New York), is marked by refined materials and detailing, artwork donated from the JP Morgan Chase collection, and efficient planning that supports CUMC’s business plan.
As humans, we’re hardwired to know what’s good for us, says David Webster, partner, Ideo (San Francisco). For instance, our intuition tells us that rotten food is not good to eat. But when it comes to knowing what helps us heal in the built environment, we’re falling short, he says.
“Why don’t we value aesthetics enough in healthcare?” Webster asked the audience during his opening keynote speech at IIDEX Canada in Toronto last week. “It’s a huge missed opportunity.”
In this series, Healthcare Design magazine asks leading healthcare design professionals, firms, and owners to tell us what’s got their attention and share some ideas on the subject.
Mark VanderKlipp is president, principal in charge, at Corbin Design (Traverse City, Mich.). Here, he shares his thoughts on wayfinding, coordinating the logistics of health system mergers, and designing for the big picture.
Moorings Park in Naples, Fla., transformed its 83-acre neighborhood by integrating new buildings into the existing landscape and creating an expansive yet intimate campus that encourages active lifestyles for its residents.
Healthcare reform is pushing organizations across the country to rethink their operations. As such, many owners are planning off-campus outpatient centers that integrate ambulatory services into a single facility located close to where people live.
These “big box” outpatient centers, which are often located in retail locations, are expected to play a crucial role in helping health systems expand their patient base and enhance patient care. But they also present a number of inherent design challenges.
The role of the hospital campus as the “mother ship” of all services is changing. For some operators, the goal of bringing care closer to patients means adding new types of facilities to their network.
Whether serving in his previous role of executive editor at Wired magazine, as a book author, or in his current position as entrepreneur-in-residence at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Thomas Goetz has maintained a keen focus on the world of healthcare. In November, Goetz will take the stage to kick off the 11th annual Healthcare Design Conference.
At first mention, the words “concrete” and “affordable elegance” don’t sound like a natural fit for a healthcare setting.
The Tata Medical Centre Cancer Hospital opened in 2011, in Rajarhat, Kolkata, India, but locals tell the design team it looks like the facility has always been there. “It has a sense of place,” says Jayashri Deshmukh, senior associate, Cannon Design (Boston), “which for a design firm couldn’t be a higher compliment.”
