Healthcare Design Research: Exploring the Potential of Evidence Based Design

Posted by Andree Iffrig Nov 28, 2008

Hospitals may have been scary places in the past, but their design is changing with the advent of evidence based design research. Architects and other designers are adopting social science research practices to enhance the design of healthcare facilities.

With sponsorship from HOK Canada, a panel of architects and designers at Buildex Calgary explored the use of evidence based design (EBD) in healthcare facilities. The panel, all practitioners of EBD in Alberta, created a convincing case for its incorporation into the pre-design process for facilities like hospitals and clinics. EBD improves the practice of design through credible research and a focus on achieving specific outcomes.

Robyn Baxter’s photographs of hospital environments, annotated with questions and wry observations, provided immediate verification of the utility of EBD. Baxter, representing Steelcase Applied Research, uses photos as a research tool with clients to help them redesign ineffective or inefficient building spaces.

Lynn Webster and Claudia Steinke of Cohos Evamy integratedesign™ demonstrated the process their firm uses to understand client issues. Lois Wellwood of Kasian Architecture Interior Design and Planning Ltd. described using drawing with children to get at conscious and unconscious needs that children have in hospital settings.

Whether artful or rigorously analytical, the approaches taken by these firms are producing friendlier hospital environments and making for shorter hospital stays.