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The Future of Healthcare Design: A Review from DC’s Healthcare Studio Leader

By Bill Ledger, AIA, ACHA, NCARB, EDAC, LEED AP, LSSGB

October 3, 2023
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The U.S. healthcare industry continues to experience major challenges and evolutions on many fronts. It’s also no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in our healthcare system that were mostly known but not really challenged or fully addressed. The confluence of these and other drivers of change have, and will continue to have, significant impacts on not only the delivery of care but also where and how that care is delivered.

 

In March of 2011, Health Facilities Management magazine published an article titled “The future is now: How 10 forces are changing health care design”. Co-authored by Peter Bardwell, Emeritus FAIA and FACHA  and A. Ray Pentecost III, FAIA, FACHA, this forward-thinking article has proved to be a very accurate predictor of where healthcare and the design of healthcare facilities in the U.S. were heading. The forces the article spoke to seemed to have a common theme, which suggests that our healthcare system is transforming in significant ways, and healthcare facility design today must accommodate and support an ongoing reinvention.
Changes in Healthcare Design - Van Wert Surgery and Inpatient Center Patient Room
Changes in Healthcare Design - Van Wert Surgery and Inpatient Center Patient Room
Mercy Health St. Rita's Graduate Medical Education Clinic ICU lab healthcare design

Fast forward ten years to March of 2021, and the same authors wrote a follow-up article in Health Facilities Management in response to their article mentioned above. “Ten Healthcare Trends Impacting Architecture and Design” takes a look back at the original suggested drivers of change and provides contextual clarity for what has transpired and new implications. Indeed, those ten forces identified in 2011 not only have come to fruition, but appear to be very relevant even today over twelve years later.

Read the full article here: Ten Healthcare Trends Impacting Architecture and Design
Mercy Health St. Rita's Graduate Medical Education Clinic ICU lab healthcare design

The Healthcare Studio at Design Collaborative strives to be at the forefront of these evolving healthcare trends to advise and support our clients’ needs. Change is happening much faster than the life of a building, so facility design must allow for as much flexibility and adaptation as possible. Our mission at DC is to Improve People’s Worlds, and we do that through a collaborative process that is based on discovery, innovation, and attention to the finer details. Trends and change are constant, but we can meet these challenges head-on through design!

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