1/3- Healthcare Design

In the article published in The Architect’s Journal, the writer Kate Trant discusses the importance and need of giving attention to the aesthetic design of a hospital facility in addition to concentrating on the functionality of the space. With exception to births, most of the events in a hospital are centered around pain, sorrow, or other negative emotions. All these negative feelings can be addressed not only for the patient, but the visitors and the staff as well; through the design of the environment they are all in. “A well-designed patient environment impacts positively on nursing staff, as well as vice-versa” (Trant, 2003). Trant addresses the then, new movement of design in healthcare facilities. A group named Design Brief Working Group (DBWG) formed and was comprised of not just medical planners and doctors, but engineers and design consultants as well. The formation of this group was proof of the growing importance being place on the design of therapeutic healing environments. The group’s role was to gather together and examine issues that related to the process of making healthcare environments more humane. A very important goal of the organization was figuring out how to communicate to those who had power and were in a position to make a “difference to the value of good design to the healing environment, to the therapeutic recovery of the patient, and the performance of the nursing staff” (Trant, 2003). One factor the DBWG felt was lacking in the design process was something they called ‘design thinking time’. They desired for there to be more time invested in this concentrated thinking at the early stages of planning. This push for more ‘design thinking time’ was spurred by the misconception that design input is a waste of time because of its cost leading to the belief that it is not worth the investment. Paying attention to and utilizing all the principles and elements of design are just as applicable in the healthcare arena, a field where it is “still too often viewed as superfluous extravagance” (Trant, 2003). Through this shift in priorities and the fast pace of medical advances, there has also been a change seen in service provision. All of these shifts are happening simultaneously with move from “task-orientated design that organizes and arranges for the medical profession, to a more patient-centered model” (Trant, 2003). The key here is linking the clinical aspects of planning with the development of the designed environment. Richard Burton, the chair of DBWG states that “We have outstanding architects and designers and we have the essential understanding of the benefits of a good environment to the healing process.” With so many others who share this belief, the interest in healthcare design has grown tremendously over the last six years, opening up vast possibilities for those willing to invest time into learning about these special environments that can be created.