Awards + Events

A self-supporting, self-propagating façade structure. Artificial intelligence-assisted hubs where patients can obtain health scans and vitals while meeting with their digital companion. And care models that utilize existing mass transit infrastructure and modular building systems to address challenges to healthcare access and worker shortages in rural communities.

These are just some of the forward-thinking approaches that made it to the semifinalist round in Healthcare Design’s biennial conceptual design competition, Breaking Through.

Back for its fourth year, the program asks participants to share their most imaginative, innovative, and inspiring ideas for how to solve the challenges expected in the future delivery of healthcare—and what they could do if the usual rules didn’t apply.

For 2024, teams were invited to first submit a concept statement outlining both the challenge they were tackling and their proposed solution. Next, our jury of high-level industry professionals assessed the 41 ideas and identified those they found innovative enough to progress to Stage 2.

That group of semifinalists—13 in total—were tasked with developing their concepts into full-scale presentations complete with graphics and much more detail on design and implementation.

After a thorough review and virtual judging event, the jurors selected four projects to progress to the Breaking Through Finale taking place during the upcoming Healthcare Design Conference + Expo (Oct. 5-8, Indianapolis).

There, the four finalist teams will take the general session stage to present their concepts. Then, attendees will vote in real time for the winner, and that team will receive a grand prize of $10,000.

In the meantime, we invite you to explore the remaining nine semifinalist concepts here (and in the October issue), including graphics and descriptions of what they set out to solve and how.

Many thanks go out to all the participating teams as well as to our program sponsors, Durasein and Mannington Commercial. And don’t miss Healthcare Design’s November/December issue for coverage on our finalists and the concept named the 2024 Breaking Through winner.

2024 Breaking Through Semifinalists

PLOT, the Patient Life Observational Treatment network

Submitted by Gresham Smith

The PLOT concept envisions a future where technology and nature harmoniously unite to unlock the full potential of human health while simultaneously restoring the planet’s ecological equilibrium. In this vision, individuals are digitally traced from birth, leveraging their genetic information for personalized well-being guidance throughout their lives.

An interconnected system of gardens—artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted hubs that seamlessly morph between expansive greenhouses and floating structures—replaces conventional pharmaceuticals and treatment with advanced biometric technology. Portal scanners along the walking paths within PLOT eliminate the need for invasive examinations, while a continuous monitor ring worn by the individual offers health monitoring between portal scans.

The data collected is analyzed for changes in a person’s health so that solutions can be tailored to meet specific needs. At the heart of PLOT are the AI “gardeners,” or digital companions, that analyze genetic data, lifestyle habits, and dietary intake to provide users with interactive, meaningful guidance.

Additionally, the vision uses carbon-negative building materials, biophotovoltaic systems whereby living plants could be genetically designed to optimize both medicinal properties and electricity generation, and quantum dot photovoltaics integrated into windows and structures to capture and harness energy.

 

Next Stop: The Future of Healthcare

Submitted by HOK

 

In response to current factors contributing to illness, including air and water pollution related to construction, this proposal seeks to utilize existing mass transit infrastructure and sustainable construction processes as the basis for a network of community and home-based healthcare services.

The concept deconstructs the urban medical center, replacing it with neighborhood-based health services that treat and reduce preventable illnesses. Through a commitment to the reuse of existing urban infrastructure, in combination with modular fabrication, these neighborhood health hubs minimize the negative impacts of new construction and move health services to the center of each neighborhood where they are most accessible.

Focusing on four distinct care settings (the home, local transit stops, express transit stops, and transit cars), this care model moves treatment and preventative care out of the centralized medical center and integrates it into people’s everyday spaces and routines, such as a local health hub station for primary and preventative care on an accessible street corner, while expanded urgent or trauma services would be available at an express health hub.

Additionally, health transit units could focus on preventative health activities, such as meditation, greengrocer/hydration, or pet therapy. For example, a user could pick up healthy prepared meals from the greengrocer car on the subway ride home from work.

 

Healing the Heartland

Submitted by Hord Coplan Macht

 

Recognizing the unique challenges critical access hospitals face, this concept sets out to reimage rural healthcare access through existing resource networks, a sustainable modular approach, and community-led adaptable design.

The vision creates a constellation of networked facilities that decrease travel time, increase access, and leverage existing local and regional community resources in a shared network across a wide geographic expanse.

Modular care pods are envisioned as tailored treatment units, including a Hope modular care pod that would provide access to wellness and preventative care such as health education and mental health resources; Heal pods for primary care including chronic disease management, therapies, and ongoing health maintenance; Help pods to provide access to emergency and critical care needs for stabilization, procedures, and interventions requiring specialized support; and Support pods for caregiver needs.

Different units can be deployed to reflect a community’s specific needs, with pods able to be configured in densely concentrated layouts and compatible with different settings. For example, a resident receiving insulin by mail could visit the local post office to pick up a medicine shipment and then visit the on-site Heal and Help pods to get their vitals monitored in advance of a virtual call with their doctor.

Additionally, the pods are inherently sustainable with microgrid creation, rainwater retention systems, and kit-of-parts execution.

 

HealthCORE

Submitted by May Architecture

 

Rural populations face physician shortages, including in primary care, dental, and mental health, as well as declining care access due to the closure of facilities, including 126 rural hospitals in the past decade, resulting in rural healthcare deserts.

HealthCORE aims to address these issues by deconstructing the traditional healthcare model of full-time operating, comprehensive specialty services and reimagining a new program that balances a freestanding facility that constantly rotates to provide a variety of specialty care services based on a community’s needs at any given time.

The concept’s Core is a wellness hub for the community and the center of the facility, with the most common medical services provided here. Comprising three major elements, including care, treatment, and physical therapy, the Core groups similar care services together that flex and share the same support spaces as needed.

Next, as the rotational component, the Pod allows specialty medical services such as dental, mammography, pharmacy, endoscopy, and speech/hearing to be provided on an as-needed basis via the Pod Delivery System (PDS), which travel to and dock at the Core with quick connection for plug and play utilization. Modeled after leaders in the shipping and fulfillment industry, the PDS utilizes artificial intelligence to track inventory, delivery, and scheduling.

Additionally, every HealthCORE facility is built with modular and prefabricated elements and is intended to be built affordably.

 

HealthLoop

Submitted by HGA

 

In response to the multiple challenges the U.S. healthcare system faces, including a rural healthcare crisis, worker shortage, and health inequities, this concept strives to revolutionize care delivery using the national transportation infrastructure to deliver accessible, quality care.

The vision proposes a network of interconnected Health Hubs, or quaternary care centers, that dispatch AI-supported CarePods, which provide advanced diagnostic, interventional, or rehabilitative care, when and where they’re needed. The system uses an ultra-high-speed train system (called HyperLoop) and existing or new rail infrastructure to deliver the CarePods to local CareStations, with units employing local workers to support care delivery.

For highly specialized quaternary care, a patient can be transported via a CarePod to a HealthHub, with locations distributed across the country in population centers with academic medical centers and railway hubs. To optimize efficiency, the concept uses advanced AI to analyze the demographics and healthcare needs of rural areas, enabling the system to dispatch the right number of CarePods, tailored to the specific requirements of each location.

Based on a uniform pod substructure, the pods design configurations are adaptable while addressing needs for exam, imaging, surgical, and future care modalities.

 

Weaving A Tapestry

Submitted by HDR

 

Synergistically addressing behavioral health and houselessness, this concept envisions a response that weaves holistic support for rehabilitation, health, and healing.

Exploring new opportunities for change, the model proposes the development of self-sustaining communities to address the interconnection between health, housing, and social welfare and targets those most in need: individuals trapped in cycles of houselessness and struggles with the existing systems and resources.

This team sees a vital thread through the connection of people to jobs, education, and healthcare while a novel health rail brings services to a person’s doorstep. Specifically, the model calls for healthcare and behavioral health facilities with interconnected indoor-outdoor spaces that offer a path to restoration.

Additionally, housing, walking trails, and wellness opportunities provide stability and nourishment, with an overall design that’s adaptable, scalable, and responsive to diverse environments. The goal is that by weaving together people and communities, housing the houseless, and healing those in need, a stronger fabric for the future is created through empowering the most forgotten.

 

Healing Skin

Submitted by HDR

 

Seeking to address the impacts of climate change, this concept is a self-supporting, self-propagating, multilevel habitable structure, which replaces the façade of existing hospitals, providing direct access from patient bedrooms to a green outdoor space.

Drawing inspiration from the Australian First Nations people and the Geebung tree, whose bark has natural antiseptic properties, the system consists of an easily transportable, modular, demountable, and recyclable kit-of-parts, providing a scalable approach to adaptive reuse. Acting as a protective, insulating layer to the hospital, the proposal dramatically reduces reliance on mechanical air conditioning despite increasing global temperatures and also provides a living scaffold for the organic growth of indigenous healing plants, small trees, herbs, fruits, vegetables, moss, and grasses.

This habitable threshold zone creates a unique habitat for small animals and insects, as well as a rich, sensory environment for patients and visitors. Constructed from a prefabricated kit-of-parts, the system comprises lightweight components that do not require specialized skills to assemble and can be transported with a van or small truck. The primary façade components are made from 3D-printed bamboo fiber.

Following removal of the façade from an existing hospital building, the new system is installed using cranes or drones to suit access requirements. Additionally, all components can be easily disassembled and re-used or recycled, and users can select the right components to address location-specific needs, such as different levels of solar shading and planting types as well as opportunities for wind and solar power generation.

 

Healing Village

Submitted by HDR

 

Recognizing that high staff vacancy rates in rural hospitals have resulted in overburdening of staff, this idea reconceptualizes the planning framework of the rural hospital typology by decoupling the navigation of medical resources from the human experience through the leveraging of automated technologies.

A traditional planning model distributes dedicated rooms and alcoves for resources such as medications, clean and soiled linens, equipment storage, and housekeeping materials across the hospital, which can lead to larger buildings and increased travel distances and workload for staff. Instead, in this vision, hospital resources are transported below, while the architecture of the human realm can adapt to various site-specific needs.

The outcome is a “village,” where hospital departments can act as individual buildings with a connecting human circulation spine. Operationally, the system utilizes modular robotic carts, called Fetch Bots, to transport various types of medical resources ranging from pharmaceuticals to linen. Materials are prepared and packed by staff at the Facilities Management Hub and then placed in containers that are loaded on the mobile Fetch Bot, which carries the supplies to their destination. Medical resources can either be manually requested or automatically called by the hospital scheduling system.

To accommodate future phasing and expansion of the hospital, Healing Village uses modular prefabricated tunnel components that can be added to expand the navigation of logistics, with new hospital buildings being constructed above.

Additionally, with the newfound space created between the hospital departments, communal courtyards can be formed, providing further breaks and enhancing access to natural light and vegetation.

 

Healthscape

Submitted by Perkins Eastman

 

Building on the trend in preventative care and the adoption of healthy lifestyles, which aim to maintain health rather than merely address illness, this concept integrates health and wellness into the fabric of everyday life.

Encompassing built environments, streetscapes, and landscapes, the vision embeds health awareness into daily routines and mitigates the psychological barriers often associated with visiting healthcare facilities.

Situated in an urban setting, the model introduces a trail experience that’s seamlessly integrated both inside and outside urban structures, which can evolve into an ever-expanding journey. “Synapses” and “Nucleus” elements activate streetscape, landscape, and urban voids, with Synapses serving as centers of care, encompassing a variety of facilities, including preventative care centers, clinics, and hospitals.

These nodes are connected by the trail, with activity spaces strategically placed between them. Additionally, Nuclei within the Healthscape focus on four key wellness factors: physical fitness, nutrition, stress management, and social connections.

The design of the trails and anchoring points is informed by a comprehensive study of a city’s unique attributes. Seamless integration of existing and new elements invites the community to explore and engage with the Healthscape, transforming it into a vibrant, interactive space that promotes health and wellness.

Find updates and additional information on the 2024 HCD Conference + Expo here.

Anne DiNardo is editor-in-chief of Healthcare Design. She can be reached at [email protected].