Solvei Neiger, partner, ZGF Architects LLP (Portland, Ore.)
Editor’s Note: This article is part a Healthcare Design’s Industry Predictions series. Throughout January, HCD will share perspectives from respected industry voices on where the sector may head in 2026 and what challenges and opportunities are on their radar.
Solvei Neiger (Headshot: Courtesy of ZGF Architects, © Patrizia Montanari)
Healthcare Design’s 2026 Healthcare Design Industry Predictions series continues its final week with Solvei Neiger, partner, ZGF Architects LLP (Portland, Ore.).
Here, Neiger discusses some of the opportunities and challenges she sees for 2026, including rethinking where and how care is delivered, with facility design evolving to support shifting demographic needs.
Healthcare Design: What lessons did the industry learn from 2025?
Solvei Neiger: With rising construction cost, limited funding sources, and ongoing economic pressures, the healthcare industry has increasingly turned to creative financing strategies to support growth and modernization. Developer-led projects, such as medical off buildings and inpatient rehabilitations facilities, have become viable alternatives to traditional capital investments.
At the same time, healthcare organizations are pursuing strategic partnerships, with larger systems collaborating with challenged providers to expand services within communities through smaller, targeted projects.
In parallel, organizations are developing community partnerships that offer access to non-medical services on-site, helping to address social determinants of health and ease the burden on emergency departments.
HCD: How can these lessons inform projects or strategies going forward?
Neiger: Healthcare organizations will continue to develop strategic facilities plans to rely on data-driven insights to guide decisions and maximize use of existing space. Rather than defaulting to costly new construction, leaders will focus on optimizing current facilities through smarter space utilization, targeted renovations, and incremental infrastructure upgrades that extend the life and efficiency of assets already in place.
This high-level approach balances operational needs with financial stewardship, ensuring that future demands are met through flexible design approaches to accommodate program shifts, adaptive improvements, sustainability, and enhanced patient care environments while avoiding unnecessary expansions in the short term.
As we think about project delivery, more healthcare projects will leverage alternate delivery methods—progressive design build, design assist, etc.—to manage the uncertainties and control or minimize risk.
HCD: Where do you think the healthcare design industry will head in 2026?
Neiger: The healthcare design industry is expected to focus on strategic master planning, prioritizing smaller projects, targeted facility upgrades, and the addition of inpatient beds to replace aging infrastructure while also expanding behavioral health facilities and freestanding rehabilitation centers to meet population needs.
At the same time, organizations may increase adoption of home‑based care models to improve patient experience and manage hospital capacity, enabling certain patients to remain at home with remote monitoring and telehealth support while accessing in‑person care when necessary.
In response to persistent labor shortages, healthcare systems will continue to integrate advanced equipment, artificial intelligence, and smart devices to streamline operations, while workforce augmentation will be achieved through automated transport systems, equipment automation, and enhanced security solutions—all contributing to a more resilient, efficient, and patient‑centered healthcare environment.
HCD: What do you see as the biggest opportunity for change in the new year?
Neiger: The biggest opportunity for change in the new year lies in rethinking where and how care is delivered, with facility design evolving to support shifting demographic needs.
An aging population, persistent staffing shortages, and rising housing costs call for more diverse care settings beyond the traditional metropolitan hubs. At the same time, large medical centers must continue to advance specialty care, innovation, and provider training while adapting to changes in academic research and broader health system.
Anne DiNardo is editor-in-chief of Healthcare Design and can be reached at [email protected].
