I recently had the pleasure of meeting the retired chief of oral medicine and surgery for St. Jude Hospital. I found myself wanting to understand the medical field so that I could relate to this gentleman and have meaningful conversation. I must admit I felt a little...
HCD Guest Author
HCD Guest Author's Latest Posts
Wayfinding in the healthcare environment
Healthcare facilities are inherently complex environments. Add in the decentralized way that hospitals and clinics deliver care today, and patients often find themselves navigating through a number of different locations during the course of a single visit. Being...
The whole of healthcare
In a recent conversation with a peer, I was taken aback when I heard her say that places like dentist offices, eye clinics, and the like weren't “real” healthcare facilities. Where else would such buildings be categorized? Inspired by this conversation, this month's...
All hail the cushion plumpers!
Interior designers being described as “cushion plumpers”? I can only imagine how Jain Malkin, Tama Duffy Day, or Betsy Brawley would react. Their stirring creative work has been published in several issues of HEALTHCARE DESIGN and sister publication Long-Term Living...
Designed to perform: Exploring the relationship between research, design, and building performance in healthcare
We shape our buildings, and afterwards, our buildings shape us.” (Churchill, 1943). This is a concept that has existed for centuries, yet to this day many healthcare executives are still realizing the shortcomings of the built environment after the building is in use....
From bench to bedside
Designed by Perkins+Will, the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center for Cancer Immunotherapeutics and Tumor Immunology is a unique piece of City of Hope, one of the nation's leading cancer research, treatment, and education centers. Housing 119,000 square feet of...
Designing an evidence-based research project: The Children's Hospital collaborative approach
H+L Architecture, in association with Zimmer Gunsel Frasca Architects, started designing a new facility for The Children's Hospital (TCH) at the former Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Aurora, Colorado, in 2003. This not only presented an opportunity to create a...
Lighting, Art, and Corner & Wall Protection
Architectural glass Skyline Design's 12 new patterns in kid's glass art collection encourage interactivity and creative play. “Try-on” different hairstyles by peeking though artwork on eco-etch translucent glass panels. Complete a Maze, or Connect The Dots with...
Turn users into producers and consumers into designers
This issue is dedicated to interior design and interior product innovations. Innovation comes slowly in the health design field. We seem to make little progress on new design concepts when the risk of failure is high and the cost unjustifiable. How many times do you...
Applying the EDAC process to a clinical education environment
National University Hospital (NUH) in Singapore began planning in 2009 for their new 775,000-square-foot medical center-home of the new National University Cancer Institute of Singapore project (NCIS) and the Specialty Outpatient Clinics (SOCs). Their mission was to...
Project Watch (PDF opens in a new window)
Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital Cardiac Hybrid OR Portland, OR GARY WILSON PHOTO/GRAPHIC Advanced imaging technologies are combined with state-of-the-art cardiac surgical procedures in this cardiac suite designed to support the advanced integration of the entire...
Meet the virtual project manager
Construction management is a “paper-lovin' business.” Big paper, too, with stacks of 30″ x 42″ sheets that are scrutinized, scribbled on, copied, or extracted to Excel spreadsheets for others to work from over the course of days or weeks. What if all that paper...











