Healthcare Design - February 2018 - 9

EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Hank Adams

C R E AT I V E F R E E D O M

Healthcare has the potential to restrict design
creativity and innovation, and it's up to you to
break through By Jennifer Kovacs Silvis

Carolyn BaRoss
Jody Barry

PERKINS+WILL

ADVENTIST CARE CENTERS

Jeffrey Brand
Sam Burnette

HDR

PERKINS EASTMAN

EARL S WENSSON ASSOCIATES

Sheila F. Cahnman
JUMPG ARDEN CONSULTING LLC

Thomas W. Chessum

CO ARCHITECTS

James Crispino
G ENSLER

I WAS RECENTLY offered a peek at a draft chapter from

a book to be released later this year by Frank Zilm,
Chester Dean director of the Institute for Health
and Wellness at the University of Kansas (KU), and
his colleague Ruth Ann Atchley, professor of psychology and assistant vice chancellor at KU. In it, the
two tackle the tricky topic of creativity in healthcare
design, posing the question: "Can creative solutions
be implemented in a field of architecture as heavily
regulated and complex as healthcare?"
It's a question that's been percolating in our offices here at Healthcare Design for a while, too. Our internal conversation was
inspired by a shift that took place at the judging event for our annual Healthcare Design Showcase design competition. Ten years ago, jurors were still
celebrating seeing evidence-based design (EBD) solutions such as access to
natural light and healing art. By 2014, though, those concepts had become
baseline expectations-a good thing, yes, but each year's crop of projects was
starting to look a lot like the previous year's.
It seemed that in the process of embracing EBD and its proven methods,
innovation (i.e., unproven methods) was taking a back seat. Zilm and Atchley noticed this, as well. "Integrating evidence-based research findings into
healthcare design will challenge the creative skills of designers and clients. A
fundamental question is the degree to which evidence-based design will stimulate creative design or to what degree it will inhibit innovation," they write.
Their research, which included administering several personality tests to
22 practicing healthcare designers, ultimately shows that professionals in this
field really are quite creative. But whether EBD inspires or stifles that creativity is up to a project's team, they say. Additionally, their study finds that proper
composition of that team is critical for creativity, requiring members who possess a range of skills and personality types as well as a willingness to take risks.
(Zilm will share more on the research with Healthcare Design in the spring.)
Risk is a particularly difficult hurdle to clear. We also recognize that. To encourage the exploration of creative solutions, we're launching a new kind of
design competition that I'm certain won't result in projects that fit any status
quo. The program is called Breaking Through, and it's a conceptual design
competition that celebrates innovation and imagination, inviting participants to create designs free from the limitations and barriers healthcare often presents. We want to be part of pushing this industry forward, and we're
taking it very seriously: The winner will receive a $10,000 cash prize.
For more information on Breaking Through, visit HCDmagazine.com/
events/breaking-through. Now, go get those creative juices flowing-the
deadline to register is Feb. 16. 

Christine Hester Devens
Mary Frazier

AECOM

EWINGCOLE

Jocelyn Lum Frederick
H C TANG RAM DESIGN

Catherine L. Gow

F RANCIS CAUFFMAN

Natalie Miovski Hagerty
THE CHILDREN'S HOS PITAL OF PHILADELPHIA

Laurel Harrison

STANTEC

Suzen L. Heeley
MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER

Walter Jones

METROHEALTH SYSTEM

Julie Kent

TRINITY HEALTH

Michael Lied
Jain Malkin

G BBN ARCHITECTS
J AIN MALKIN INC.

Mike McKay
Victoria Navarro
Don Orndoff

KAISER PERMANENTE

Diane R.K. Osan

FKP ARCHITECTS

Chris Powers HCA
Andrew Quirk

ERDMAN

ADVOCATE HEALTH CARE

HEALTHCARE

S KANSKA USA BUILDING

Pamela H. Redden
HKS INC.

William D. Repichowskyj
E4H ARCHITECTURE

Joan Saba

NBBJ

Kim Shinn
TLC ENGINEERING FOR ARCHITECTURE

Janet H. Sisolak
UT MD A NDERS ON CANCER CENTER

Karl R. Sonnenberg
ZIMMER GUNS UL F RASCA ARCHITECTS LLP

Kurt Spiering

HGA

Steve Stokes CALLISONRTKL
Jeffrey C. Stouffer
Joseph Strauss

HKS INC.

CLEVELAND CLINIC

Paul E. Strohm
Jocelyn Stroupe

HOK

CANNONDESIGN

Joshua A. Theodore

LEO A DALY

Roger S. Ulrich
CHALMERS UNIVERS ITY OF TECHNOLOGY

Gary L. Vance

VANCE CONSULTING

FEBRUARY 2018

http://www.HCDmagazine.com/events/breaking-through http://www.HCDmagazine.com/events/breaking-through

Healthcare Design - February 2018

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