The quiet colors, the soft music, the view of water flowing in a rock garden just beyond the glass–all contribute to an air of calm and serenity. Not a bad thing if you’re walking through the door to face the ordeal of surgery, or even just to visit a new mom. Yet the luxurious amenities of Banner Estrella, which extend well beyond the lobby, aren’t merely high-end perks in a health-care industry otherwise beset by rising costs. Many aspects of this hospital’s design reflect widespread trends. A key element is privacy: all 172 beds in Banner Estrella are in single rooms, including those dedicated to intensive care. Studies show that private rooms mean shorter hospital stays because they are quieter and there’s less chance of spreading infection. They’re likely to become a new standard; single-room design is a key recommendation in guidelines for health-care facilities recently issued by the American Institute of Architects.
The architects of Banner Estrella, NBBJ of Seattle, worked hard to offset the sterile, disquieting ambience of typical hospital rooms. Big windows open to views and let in natural light, which help patients keep track of the cycles of day and night. Medical equipment is hidden behind a screen or curtain as much as possible. “When you first walk into the room, you aren’t bombarded by technology,” says project architect John Pangrazio. Besides the 30-inch flat-screen TV, each room has a comfy couch, but not just for a homey touch. It folds out so a visitor can spend the night. “Our rooms allow families to get involved in the patient’s care,” says nurse Becky Jensen. That’s a key factor in an era of nurse shortages and cost cuts. The nursing staff was also considered in designing the patient floors; rather than one big noisy nurses’ station down the hall, every two rooms has a nurses’ alcove with a computer so that patients can see a nurse nearby and nurses can more easily keep track of patients. Big windows anchor the ends of the corridors, and the staff lounges have south-facing windows with mountain views.
The natural light, the garden off the chapel, the serene pools of water are supposed to help healing–or at least soothe the tattered spirits of the sick and their families. But just as important as these elements are some of the hospital systems the design team studied and tried to improve. Here a patient on a gurney doesn’t have to be wheeled through public areas. “Imaging, surgery and intervention radiology are in one location, with one waiting room,” says NBBJ partner Richard Dallam. That helps minimize the shuttling back and forth to the patient’s room. Good design is much more than window placement and paint colors: it’s understanding the culture of health care and how needs are constantly changing. “Everyone gets on the bandwagon with these trends,” says Dallam. But he also maintains that hospitals must be designed to expand and evolve in the years ahead.
