While some pundits are saying the recession is over, the experiences of the last months have made many of us rethink the way we do business today and how to prepare for the future. Working Better, Faster, Stronger The Bureau of Labor Statistics just came out with a...
As electronic health records become the norm in most hospitals, do you have to significantly change the design of patient rooms and nurses stations? 45.83% - Yes 25.00% - No 29.17% - There are changes that need to be addressed, but not significant ones COMMENTS -...
Expanding a healthcare facility is a complicated undertaking. In my last post, I outlined some of the construction considerations for this type of project. The following are some of the architectural functions and features that must be considered when undertaking an overbuild or vertical expansion:
Is it safe to say it’s okay to be daring? The list of adjectives is endless as well as the choice of fabric and vinyl selections. Fortunately, in today’s market basket of materials, textiles, flooring, wall-coverings, and finishes, the sky is the limit. Take for...
Effective wayfinding strategies in healthcare settings begin before the patient or visitor arrives at the hospital. With planning and understanding of the patient’s and visitor's journey to the hospital campus and their way around the campus, difficulty in navigating through a hospital can be avoided, which may decrease the stress and anxiety in already stressful and sometimes traumatic situations.
In recent years, a growing number of designers for healthcare environments have started to look more closely at ergonomic design when choosing products that will best meet the needs of healthcare industry professionals and their patients. As many know, when designing...
We regularly receive proposals requesting the use of BIM (Building Informational Modeling). This immediately presents us with two questions: 1) Will the design team be designing within and providing a model?, and 2) How does the team intend to utilize the tool? Over my next two posts I will discuss both questions.
How many facilities need to be equipped with resident emergency evacuation vests? 43.75% - All facilities should be equipped with them 50.00% - Only those in "disaster-prone" regions 6.25% - No facilities need to be equipped with them
B….I…. M.Sounds simple.Three unassuming letters that represent an electronic program for designing buildings.That’s all it is, yet to some, it seems to represent so much more.A technological panacea that is going to revolutionize the AEC industry and save us all from ruin.It is going to magically make the design process easy and fast, eliminate miscommunication and mistakes, align everyone’s’ incentives and make construction costs and schedules accurate and efficient.
Several years ago when my husband and I were in Hangzhou, China, to adopt our daughter, we visited a local hospital to treat an ear infection that she had developed. I was struck by the differences between U.S. hospitals and Chinese hospitals in this community along...
For the healthcare design professional, specifying a patient room color palette is a little like color forecasting: specifying surface and furnishing colorations that will remain trendy for several years but yet still be consistent with the latest design-related,...
As we enter September of 2009 and the architecture and construction markets continue to fluctuate, our firm is... 44.44% - Beginning to see more business 33.33% - Still finding new projects difficult to come by 22.22% - Still being affected significantly by the...
