Emily Buchanan (Courtesy of Gensler)
In this series, Healthcare Design asks leading healthcare design professionals, firms, and owners to tell us what has their attention and share their ideas on the subject.
Emily Buchanan is an associate, design manager, and healthcare practice area leader at Gensler’s Nashville, Tenn., office. Here, Buchanan shares her thoughts on designing for equity and empathy, using speed to market as a design metric, and rightsizing for the future.
1. When buildings become health equity tools
Designing for equity starts by asking what keeps people in a community from receiving care in the first place and then hardwiring those answers into the building. In neighborhoods with limited access to fresh food, for example, some providers are hosting weekly farmers markets and mobile food programs at their outpatient clinics.
Multipurpose rooms on the ground floor are becoming available to reserve for activities such as baby showers, parenting classes, or faith-based support groups, which draw people who might not otherwise step inside a healthcare facility until they are in crisis.
In both urban and rural settings, this approach positions the healthcare building as part of the everyday fabric of the neighborhood, which makes preventive care feel less intimidating and more like a natural extension of community life.
2. Designing micro-moments of empathy
If efficiency is about how quickly people move throughout a space, empathy is about how they feel as they do it. Designers are layering in environmental cues to lower stress levels, such as softer indirect lighting in waiting areas, sound-absorbing finishes that cut down on overhead noise, and clear, intuitive wayfinding that eases the anxiety of feeling lost in a complex campus.
Small spatial moves matter as well, especially in how they support the “Triangle of Care” between the patient, caregiver, and technology. Aligning check-in desks and seating so that staff and patients naturally meet at eye level can make difficult conversations feel less transactional and more personal by balancing proximity, privacy, and clear communication within the triangle. Another emerging approach is the use of exam chairs that transition to a lay-flat position, rather than requiring patients to climb onto a high table. This increases comfort and supports a calmer experience for both patients and caregivers.
3. Home as part of the care campus
Hospital-at-home programs are a key part of future-forward delivery, not a peripheral offering. Health systems that successfully integrate physical, digital, and home experiences will stand out in the market while improving patient outcomes, reducing costs, and building loyalty.
Strategic healthcare design plays a critical role in creating cohesive, human-centered experiences across all these domains. Opportunities include developing digital interfaces that reflect the brand and its values, applying journey-based design thinking to both physical and digital touchpoints, planning future-oriented infrastructure, and implementing continuity mapping that seamlessly extends the care experience from healthcare settings into patients’ homes.
With innovation driving innovative approaches to in-home care, hospital-at-home design is transforming how health systems deliver services, express their brand, and engage with communities across a broader landscape.
4. Speed to market as a design metric
Speed to market is appearing as a real design driver as health systems compete with retail and tech-backed providers that can launch new sites quickly. One response has been the development of a standardized planning framework for clinics and ambulatory centers, where a core layout of exam rooms, staff workspaces, and support zones can flex to support different specialties with minimal physical changes.
Paired with prefabricated components, these repeatable modules can shorten delivery timelines, simplify permitting, and make it easier for capital planners to forecast costs and depreciation across a portfolio of projects.
The nuance comes in how those standards are applied, because communities still need spaces that reflect local demographics, cultural expectations, and specific service line demand rather than a one-size-fits-all box. When speed is one part of a broader strategy, it helps systems respond faster to changing needs and enter new markets more thoughtfully.
5. Rightsizing spaces for shifting service lines
Shifts in care delivery are changing what “rightsized” looks like, especially as more volume moves to ambulatory and behavioral health settings. Emergency departments, for instance, see a higher number of patients arriving with mental health needs that do not always fit traditional high-acuity environments designed around alarms, bright lighting, and constant activity.
In response, some organizations, such as JPS Psychiatric Emergency Center in Fort Worth, Texas, are introducing calmer, low-stimulation treatment areas that adjust factors like lighting, temperature, and acoustic separation so patients can stabilize without being overwhelmed.
Beyond the emergency department, there’s growing interest in flexible spaces that can transition between uses, such as exam rooms that support various departmental needs or observation areas that can expand during peak periods and contract when demand is lower.
Want to share your Top 5? Contact Senior Editor Robert McCune at [email protected] for submission instructions.
