Invisible: 2024 Breaking Through Competition Finalist
Gresham Smith
Invisible aims to accurately pinpoint health indicators and transform nearly all of today’s health interventions into preventative care.
Gresham Smith
Digital You (top): Biometric wearables and in-home devices track all your nutritional, physical, and mental activity. This comprehensive data is paired with powerful predictive AI to accurately pinpoint all current and future risk factors for non-communicable diseases. Ownership of this data empowers people to take control of their own health. E.D. Phone Home (bottom): Health emergencies are no longer met with long wait times, isolation or centralized treatment locations. Technology convergence allows first response vehicles to address most ailments. 10-year-old Matthew has just been outfitted with a custom formed and 3D printed cast without having to leave the yard.
Gresham Smith
Health Station (top): Andy pulls over at a rest stop. He feels a bit out of sorts so he scans his hand in one of the biomedical retail stations. The large digital screen recommends a bloat-relief capsule to treat Andy’s discomfort. Moments later, a drone touches down broad roof of the re-purposed gas station with his prescription. LDR AR (bottom): In this labor and delivery spa, all five senses are engaged to produce an environment optimized for health outcomes. Augmented reality surfaces display vitals for mom and baby while real-time AI generates custom scenery and sounds attuned to the occupant’s preferences.
Gresham Smith
Rejuvenation Park (tops): On her way home from work, Lucy strolls through the park augmented to support mental health. She pops into a Clarity Pod which turns opaque as seen from the outside. Her cortisol level informs the style of the wellness session which includes aromatherapy and is guided by an Ai avatar. Lucy is able to clear her mind and be more present for her family. Macro-Donalds (bottom): As Jennifer pulls into a spot, her biometric devices upload her recent diet and activity levels. The menu appearing before her is tailor designed to support her long term health goals and daily caloric needs. Protein rich meals are suggested to pull her through this afternoon’s visit to the DMV.
Gresham Smith
Adaptive Living (top): Spurred by detailed and reliable community health data, developers and healthcare providers are empowered to invest in opportunistic projects that support community health. The formerly vacant mall now supports the social needs of an assisted living community. I wonder if they kept a Hot Topic for old time’s sake? Hi-Tech, Hi-Acuity (bottom): Hard Healthcare may always need a physical space. However, high acuity surgical buildings can appropriately support the continuum of care now that every other facet of health maintenance has been detached from the hospital and reinvented to support a lifestyle people actually enjoy.
2024 Breaking Through Conceptual Design Competition
The Breaking Through conceptual design competition was at the forefront of the 2024 Healthcare Design Conference + Expo in Indianapolis. The competition, now in its fourth year, invites participants to forget what they’ve been told can’t be done and push away regulations, deadlines, codes, and budgets.
A total of 41 teams submitted initial ideas for jury review, resulting in four finalists—SmithGroup, HGA, Perkins&Will, and Gresham Smith. All competed for a $10,000 grand prize.
At the conference, each team had 10 minutes to present their concepts live, with attendees voting in real time to determine the winner.
Here, Healthcare Design presents the 2024 finalist—Gresham Smith’s Invisible.
Invisible: 2024 Breaking Through Finalist
Team: Gresham Smith
On-stage presenters: Leanna Albright, senior interior designer and associate; Chris Hoal, architect and healthcare market design leader; Maria Sanchez, interior designer and associate
Image credit: Gresham Smith
The premise: Sterile, isolating, and stressful hospital environments can cause discomfort in almost everyone. Furthermore, because today’s medical facilities must be designed adequately for everyone, they are designed perfectly for no one. However, evolving economics, modern lifestyles, and advancing technology means the future of healthcare will be unbound by location, cost, computing power, and data availability. Instead, the notion of “hospitals” will disappear, replaced by the idea that healthcare can become a lifestyle seamlessly woven into our daily experience.
The concept: Providing a roadmap for how healthcare, over time, will become fully decentralized and invisible, this concept features an array of experiences and vignettes in which care can be delivered in the future. Advances in the monitoring of personal health data paired with powerful predictive AI will lead to a revolution in preemptive healthcare. Biometric devices will track not just a person’s physical activity, but mental and nutritional activity as well. This comprehensive health data will be paired with pattern recognition AI to accurately pinpoint current and future risk factors for non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular disease.
The details: As technology gets cheaper and smaller over time, advanced diagnostics will be distributed widely. In the future, obsolete gas stations could be turned into health stations that are powered by AI to deliver primary care, diagnostics, and pharmacy services. Clarity Pods combine mental health infrastructure with a natural, healing environment. In the home, systems will be attuned to support health, whether by collecting additional health data, reinforcing healthy habits, customizing interior environments, or responding in an emergency. One idea is the use of interactive holograms in living areas to give occupants a chance to connect with their digital twin for a complete picture of their personal health.
For more on Healthcare Design’s 2024 Breaking Through competition, read here.
Anne DiNardo is editor-in-chief of Healthcare Design. She can be reached at [email protected].
