Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven Hospital and Sherman Hospital are among five healthcare facilities recognized for their environmentally responsive design in “Code Green: Examining the Prognosis for Sustainability in Healthcare,” in the August issue of Eco-Structure magazine.

Sherman Hospital opened its new healthcare campus in Elgin, Illinois, in December. The hospital’s 15-acre geothermal lake, which is expected to save the hospital more than $1 million annually over conventional heating and cooling costs, was a creative response that began with the need to manage storm water runoff for the 15-acre site and ...[more]

The latest issue of Healthcare Building Ideas features an interview with healthcare architects Angela Watson and David Meek. In “Systems for Upgrading the Hospital Environment,” this issue’s Build It Right feature, Angela and David discuss recent developments in healthcare design, including strategies for waste management and changing perspectives on indoor air quality for hospitals.

Angela and David’s recent project at Concord Hospital in New Hampshire received LEED certification in 2009, the first hospital in northern New England to do so.

Healthcare Building Ideas article

Officials of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center cut the ribbon on a new Shepley Bulfinch-designed Outpatient Surgery Center (OSC) on June 17.

The ribbon cutting was part of a public open house for the OSC, which officially opened to patients on June 22. The open house included tours of the facility and demonstrations of operating room technologies.

“The OSC is designed to enhance the efficiency of current operations by performing many outpatient surgical procedures at a single, specialized facility, and reserving DHMC’s current surgical suites for more complex surgical procedures and emergency trauma cases,” said OSC Medical ...[more]

The impact of Smilow Cancer Hospital is nothing short of transformative, according to both patients and medical staff at Yale-New Haven Hospital in a feature published today.  For patients, it has meant care with a personal touch, in a setting geared to their comfort and peace of mind, with a healing garden, patient boutique, and space for complementary therapies. Physicians see great value in offering comprehensive, centralized cancer care in a state-of-the-art facility.

In the article, Physician-in-Chief Dr Thomas Lynch notes that “Smilow Cancer Hospital has transformed our ability to provide multidisciplinary care ...[more]

Shepley Bulfinch has begun schematic design for the new Health and Biomedical Science Center for the University of Houston’s College of Optometry.

The 167,600 s.f. state-of-the-art research and patient eye care center will include an ambulatory surgical center, laser center, specialized research labs, offices, seminar spaces, a new conference facility, and classrooms. It will be located adjacent to the J. Davis Armistead Building on the southern end of the University’s main campus. Housing an integrated clinical, teaching, and research program, the new building will dovetail into the existing facility in the Armistead ...[more]

Shouldn’t the design of a healthcare facility begin with creating a healthy environment? That’s the argument Angela Watson makes in her article, “LEED by example: Using sustainable design to create a healing environment,” which appears in the January 2010 issue of Healthcare Design magazine. In the article, she discusses the process behind Concord Hospital’s 2008 expansion and renovation, and the hospital’s subsequent receipt of LEED certification, the first in northern New England to be so recognized.

Healthcare Design article

Principals Jennifer Aliber and Angela Watson discuss the creation of therapeutic environments in their contribution to the new book, Design for Critical Care: An Evidence-Based Approach by Kirk Hamilton and Mardelle Shepley.  Jennifer and Angela discuss the impact of evidence-based design on patient safety and the quality of care in acute-care facilities.

The book was published by Architectural Press, an imprint of Elsevier, in September.

Book listing on Elsevier website

Building projects are becoming increasingly complex and fast paced and funding is becoming more and more limited. In this climate collaboration among project teams is being increasingly expected. Integrated Project Delivery is one example of attempting true collaboration among team members such as engineers, contractors and architects. While this term describes a specific project organization, it could also be viewed as a general description of an improved collaborative process. However, collaboration does not always come naturally. Builders, engineers, architects and owners are trained very differently and with diverging priorities. Our training occurs within a vacuum of our own discipline and insulates us from other disciplines.

How can we change this? In ...[more]