Healthcare Design - July 2014 - 24

multifunctional spiritual spaces are growing in
popularity, too. Many facilities are also recognizing the desire of parents, spouses, siblings,
and friends to stay connected to work. So
dedicated workspaces in family lounges or
standalone media and research centers are
becoming more common. While benefiting
families and visitors, these efforts also help
patients. "If you're in the hospital and your
spouse is still able to keep up with their work
yet be present for you, you're probably less
stressed," Devens says.

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Lauren Bevers, director of interior design at
BSA LifeStructures (St. Louis), says she likes to
provide private zones within family lounges and
waiting areas by incorporating movable screens
that can flex based on need while also improving
acoustics. She's also seeing seating and tables
with integrated charging stations. "We have to
provide them with the comforting environment
that allows them to use the space how they need
to," she says.
That design intent extends to family-focused
outdoor courtyards and gardens, too. During a
project for the James Mandell Building at Boston
Children's Hospital, designers incorporated a
"hanging garden" for the bone marrow transplant
department located six floors above street level.
The quiet oasis for patients and families features a series of outdoor seating areas that are
adjacent to the main corridor and family lounge,
becoming a visual extension of the inpatient unit.
"Having outdoor spaces with plants, art, light,
and color offers a patient distraction and privacy
from their healthcare demands," says Brian
Carlic, director of landscape at Payette (Boston).
"Being allowed to go outdoors is a restorative
experience."

At Lakeland HealthCare's
Marie Yeager Cancer
Center in St. Joseph, Mich.,
custom-designed wall
panels coordinate with the
overall design to create a
private waiting area along
the corridor.

BSA LIFESTRUCTURES

Planning and design considerations
Designers say Lean processes are helping
many organizations in the planning stages
to determine potential volumes in a facility at
a given time-and thus their space needs.
For a recent women's center project, Devens
says the team used an experience mapping
process, a design tool that helps outline prototypical patient experiences, to help determine
the location and size of sub-waiting spaces for
patients and families. "We realized that some
of them were not large enough or that they
weren't in the correct location for the path of
travel," she says.
Consultation spaces are another important
family/visitor space for caregivers and the
medical staff to discuss a patient's medical
status or discharge instructions away from
the patient room and public corridors. Gary
Vance, director of national healthcare at BSA
LifeStructures (Indianapolis), says while he's
designed these spaces into corridors in surgery, imaging, and ED departments, it's been
difficult to get physicians and medical staff to
use them. "I think they're so rushed, they have
no time," he says.
In an ideal situation for a surgery consult
room, Vance says the design would include
two entrance doors, one for doctors to enter
from surgery and one for families to enter
from the waiting area, eliminating the need for
doctors to walk through public areas where
they might get caught by other families with
questions.
When it comes to design aesthetics,
designers are focusing on many of the same
hospitality attributes found in waiting rooms
to create a setting that's inviting and comfortable, including a variety of seating choices,
standing-height workstations, artwork, and
pops of color.
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Healthcare Design - July 2014

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