Anne DiNardo

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 11^th 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.”

The launch of the iPhone 5S has people talking about all things Apple again. One of the articles that popped up in my Twitter feed titled, “Timeless Branding Lessons From A Young Steve Jobs,” by Drake Baer of Fast Company, caught my attention since I’m hearing a lot of healthcare organizations talk about branding (or rebranding) these days.

With a goal to bring care closer to the community and expand its network, Mercy Health opened the Rookwood Medical Center adjacent to a major freeway in a central area of Cincinnati in July 2013. The highly visible location, along with a bold façade and triangular site, help reinforce the organization’s new brand identity and vision to the community.

Much has been written about the health benefits of breastfeeding to infants—and mothers—but there’s also a larger benefit to society. The Office of Women’s Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, reports that if 90 percent of families breastfed exclusively for six months, nearly 1,000 deaths among infants could be prevented.

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.

Bill Kline is an architect and vice president with SmithGroupJJR’s Washington D.C. office. He currently serves as a health practice leader. Here, he shares his thoughts on BIM, applying the new wellness model to building design, and building more energy and water efficient facilities.

1. The right team

Thomas Goetz has an issue with whiteboards. Specifically, how such a large piece of equipment in a hospital ward—and one that’s chock full of important information—seems to be almost an afterthought.

“No one seems to have thought of that as a piece of design and yet it’s the biggest thing on any one wall or surface,” he says.

Singapore is called the Garden City for its abundance of trees and gardens, a feature that’s included in the design of Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital (MNH). The hospital’s commitment to green is further demonstrated through a number of sustainable design elements that help minimize waste and increase savings.