Much has been written about the advantages of designing and building facilities—including healthcare facilities—to be sustainable or green. Proponents of green building argue that green building is not only justified because of the healthcare industry's core mission...
What happens when a neighborhood clinic has to serve a large non-English-speaking clientele, including large contingents of patients from Somalia and Vietnam? More to the point, how do you organize and wayfind the clinic to ensure smooth, confusion-free traffic and a...
A major national provider of occupational medicine puts forth the challenge: the $1.3 billion company, called Concentra, wants to shift most of its focus from occupational medicine toward urgent care—from a 90:10 ratio to a 40:60 ratio, specifically—and to redesign...
Membership in the Pebble Project is not limited to healthcare providers. Recently, a growing interest of corporate manufacturing companies has added “Corporate Pebbles” to the Pebble Project's research community. This only means heightened research opportunities—by...
Did you ever wonder why surgical scrubs are predominantly khaki green? I've seen a few in blue and pink, but the majority is one or the other shade of khaki green. It seems that at the turn of the century, before the invention of the electric light bulb, surgeries...
If ever there was a time to pull on your galoshes, now may just be it. These past few months have been a roller-coaster ride on so many fronts; economically, politically, and even emotionally as we try to take stock and understand how all of these changes will impact...
Last week’s question, which happened to spill over into this week because of operator’s dating error, gained much attention and discourse from readers. So I pulled the comments out here to the blogs, to see what else people have to say about the topic. From a blog...
Kudos to the organizers of this year’s HEALTHCARE DESIGN.08 conference in Washington, DC. There were lots of very compelling sessions! I was particularly interested in the recurring themes such as infection control, sustainable design and issues of lighting and...
Do you implement Lean practices in your design? • 71% Yes • 17% No • 12% Occasionally Comments:-We do, in fact our entire hospital organization is going through organized Lean methodology training. -no demand for it -HDR is Involved in three projects using Lean/IPD...
Too often, the popular view of sustainability only includes the environment and its direct effect on the health of people. But sustainability reaches into every aspect of development, including education, economics, and social equity. Perkins+Will architects Doug...
Creating building design standards is a good idea for any institution. For healthcare facilities, having a clearly defined set of building design standards is an important tool that can help manage many aspects of a facility as large and complex as a hospital....
Last week’s survey results: I voted for: 40.48% - John McCain 57.14% - Barack Obama 2.38% - Other Comments: -Obama is what that is and he's what a lot of people stand for. -Nader - Natural Law Party! -You wouldn't let a brain surgeon operate on you with only 2 years...
