Equity & Hope and the Healing Power of Place in Healthcare [HSW]

For many years now, healthcare design has focused on evidence-based design, and with good reason: the physical design of healthcare environments has been proven to significantly affect patients and staff. This session isn't about that--rather, it's about the healing power of place, which is emotional, as opposed to space, which is physical. As humans, we connect to place on a subliminal level; we remember things like how we felt and who we were with. Place is composed of the intangibles of a design that elevate and transform the experience of "being" in the space--the things that make it so special that we connect with it on an emotional level. It's about the qualitative elements that speak to equity, hope, dignity, and respect, and the opportunity to destigmatize hospitals, so that they become sought-after community destinations. In this presentation, we'll talk about the design processes used to create meaningful, healing places--healthy places that foster the healing process because they welcome and engage people (including the healthcare team, the patient, and their family) and bring out the best in everyone by meeting the needs of their mind, body, and soul. We will use inspiring project examples to show how a building can do it all, traveling from Lisbon, Portugal, to Detroit, MI, to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and New South Wales, Australia to illustrate how buildings designed with care, compassion, and attention to detail support equity and foster trust and confidence between communities and the institutions that serve them.


Components visible upon registration.