Jan 08, 2020

Design Thinking for Wellbeing

Design thinking for wellbeing.

When our One Workplace Healthcare team was faced with relocating its showroom to a smaller footprint, we encountered many of the same challenges as our customers. So instead of quickly reducing and relocating existing furniture, we looked inward to use the same human-centered design thinking we apply to our client-facing projects

To reconcile a limited budget and reduced space with big ideas and aspirational goals, our healthcare creative team held an in-house engagement workshop to narrow the project’s focus and develop a central project theme – Benessere.

A space that defines healthcare for today.

Benessere, the Italian word for wellbeing, is central to our company history and culture. It also fueled the inspiration for our healthcare design principles: growth, connection, flexibility, wellness – especially in an environment that wanted to be both disruptive and a center for excellence.

Benessere and our design principles led to inspiration boards and the concept of a ‘jewel box’ – a hard-working space in a small footprint to showcase important concepts for healthcare today. We were determined to demonstrate environments that provide for the entire healthcare lifecycle, from greeting and check-ins, to group interaction and solitude, exams, consultations, and treatments. And to be most effective, these environments should also account for staff co-location and respite while offering more choice and control.

Within such an environment, color and texture become extremely important tools to express our driving principles. The same goes for non-traditional healthcare furniture and prefabricated walls. We used a laser cut-steel wall to create visual interest along with glass walls to provide writing surfaces for discussion and consultation, while co-located staff spaces demonstrate accessibility and offer respite areas featuring hospitality furniture and lighting. Artwork helps transform a potentially sterile medical setting into a welcoming, spa-like atmosphere.

We also wanted the showroom to spark ideas for our customers by disrupting standard approachs to healthcare design. Throughout design development, the core design team and leadership collaborated to find the best possible solutions for each vignette. We are showing products that may not be traditionally thought of as “healthcare,” as they drive inspiration and create dialog.

A space that adapts for tomorrow.

From the start, our new healthcare showroom was a journey. But instead of letting a small budget and amount of space drive the design, we let principles and the people it would ultimately serve create our path. And like any journey, we knew the environment must be able to adapt to an industry that’s constantly changing. As we look to the future, the showroom furnishings, construction and principles used to build the healthcare space will remain flexible enough to embrace it.

See Project Case Study here.