"Designing for Health" is a monthly, Web-exclusive series from healthcare interior design leaders at Perkins+Will that focuses on the issues, trends, challenges, and research involved in crafting today's healing environments. This month's topic:

Healthcare Facilities Want You to Take Notice: How Commercial Markets are Influencing Healthcare Design

By Marlene M. Liriano and Mark Lutz

Most recently, there have been numerous surveys documenting that healthcare facilities are being highly influenced by commercial markets such hospitality, residential, spas, and even corporate spaces. Some facilities have become more hospitable in their care by pampering patients and their families. Some have requested more sophisticated details and materials in their spaces, and yet others are running their businesses more competitively in order to attract the best and most valuable staff along with providing a positive experience.

Years ago, most of us visited local hospitals and medical facilities only to find cold, sterile, and poorly lit institutional spaces. Those were the physical influences we were given, and without further thought, we accepted them as the norm. Today, that is no longer the case. Elective surgery is one example where the cutting-edge, ultra chic, and glamourous are all rolled into one experience. The Miami Institute for Age Management and Intervention, located at the sky lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel in Miami, offers an ENCORE program for its exclusive clients. The physical space was designed with every detail of its business plan in mind. Patients arrive privately through the VIP entrance, wait in one of the luxe VIP rooms, and enter the operating rooms through a private corridor where a series of sliding doors conceal their identity from other patients. Upon completing their procedure, they can recover in one of the hotel's private suites. As part of their follow up visit, a special blend of dermaceuticals are developed and dispensed in specially designed and branded M.I.A.M.I. glass bottles. The luxurious program adds glamour to what could be an otherwise painful, medical procedure. "The Miami Institute is a unique hybrid between a traditional clinical environment and a medical spa in that all services offered are medical grade. But the setting is much more comfortable and patient-focused than a traditional doctor's office," says Julio F. Gallo, MD, co-founder and medical director.

Medical teaching facilities also are paying close attention to the quality of interior finishes and level of technology in their spaces to facilitate attracting licensed surgeons and current medical students to their programs. These facilities are providing resort type amenities for their guests during their visit. The Davinci Center in Doral, Fla., attracts business by providing a complete package of services, like a limousine service for clients from their hotels to the Center, assigning a staff member as their daily concierge, catering hot meals during the day, and providing a business center where e-mails may be checked, along with private locker rooms to assist them in preparing for their day's program.

The goal of the Center was to provide an aesthetic that was more refined with natural stones, Venetian plasters, wood veneers and a color palette that was bold yet elegant. Also included in the facility is a rotating gallery with artwork from local artists available for purchase, and the latest high tech devices in the marketplace; all items in which established physicians coming to the Center are accustomed to having. These attendees are busy professionals who work hard and not only want the creature comforts of their own home, they also need someone to manage their schedules for the day while they focus their skills on the next level of training.

The influence of commercial markets is not only limited to smaller-scaled boutique facilities located in the United States. El Hospital Universitario San Vicente de Paul in Colombia, is a 95 year old staple in the heart of Medellin. Currently planning a new 500,000 sq. ft. hospital in Rio Negro, the client wanted a well-planned, American-influenced hospital with the latest state-of-the-art technology. The director's vision was a hospital that would attract the best physicians and surgeons from all over the world helping them to provide the highest quality of service. Their plan was to attract new business from nearby hospitals in and out of the country.

The spaces where staff spends most of its time were as important as the public and private spaces for patients and family. From the moment you enter any building on the campus, the hospital brand and inherent wayfinding elements were planned as integral parts of the interior architecture. Concealed light sources, super graphics, flat-screen monitors, interactive touch screen stations and computers are all apparent and available to visitors. The level of sophistication in the quality and use of materials and furnishings elevate this facility beyond any other in South America.
 
The more competitive healthcare facilities become, the more they need to find ways to attract and retain both staff and patients. As designers influencing the way people perceive and feel inside the spaces we conceive, it is our responsibility to deliver a product that meets and exceeds not only the client's business plan, but the expectations of all who visit, including our own.

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Marlene M. Liriano, IIDA, LEED AP, is a principal at Perkins+Will. She serves as the interior design director and interior discipline leader for the Miami office. She can be reached at marlene.liriano@perkinswill.com

Mark Lutz, RA, LEED AP is a principal at Perkins+Will and is the Healthcare Market Sector Leader for the Miami office. He can be reached at mark.lutz@perkinswill.com

Past installments of "Designing for Health" are available here:

• October: “A Prescription to go Paperless”
• September "Peace and Quiet"
• August: "Research Informing Design"
• July: "Shifting Culture, Shifting Service Lines: Is Tiger Woods the New "Grandmother"?"