Healthcare Design - August 2018 - 87

Q&A

with Brian Willer
AIA, NCARB, Partner
E4H Environments for Health Architecture
How does your firm work
with clients to help them
navigate the current
healthcare market?
At E4H, we listen, inform,
and are proactive with our
clients. Our healthcare-only
focus provides an in-depth
knowledge of trends,
insight on competition, and
expertise on the regulatory
environment that impacts
healthcare design and
campus planning. We
encourage a collaborative
approach that engages the
design team, contractors,
and subconsultants early to
implement best practices
and maintain a stringent
budget. During the design
process we use interactive
tools such as SmartDesign
to work with clients in
real time and VR / AR for
translating concepts and
testing options, helping

our clients make timely
decisions to keep the project
on schedule.
What approach does your
firm use to design spaces
that support care delivery
today but provide enough
flexibility for unknowns of
the future?
Our goal is to "future proof"
by designing in a way that
allows departments to flex
with minimal impact to
operations. For example,
positioning critical
departments next to "soft
space," which are not
clinical in nature and can
easily be relocated. This
approach allows departments
with anticipated growth
the ability to expand while
maintaining an operational
status at minimal cost.
Designing rooms that allow
for different acuity levels

principles and encourage our
clients to use the process
as well to ensure the right
voices are heard at the right
time throughout a project.

provides the flexibility
needed as patient demands
evolve. For ambulatory care,
modular design of exam
rooms permits different
practices to share spaces
allowing for efficiency and
flexibility as demands for
specialties change.
What role does collaboration
play in your process? How do
you ensure the right people
have a voice at the design
table?
In today's design
environment, collaboration
plays a critical role, but often
the project team and Owners
revert to the comfort of their
silos, only focusing on their
responsibility. Successful
project collaboration
happens early and often.
It is important to maintain
a holistic perspective that
encompasses a diversity of
users, educate the team on
best-practices, and keep the
quality of the environment
of care as the focus. As a
practice, we employ LEAN

What's one major design or
care delivery trend that's
shaping your work today?
And how so?
Continuous improvement.
Among our for-profit clients,
Ambulatory Surgery Centers,
Free Standing EDs, and
Micro-Hospitals are growing
trends that improve access
to patient populations with
an efficient real estate
footprint. For our not-forprofit clients, developing
design standards/guidelines
has become increasingly
popular. Both practices
dovetail with the use of
LEAN design and project
delivery principles, creating
measurable improvements
in the cost and quality of
care, project delivery cost,
and energy efficiency. Both
models of care benefit from
post-occupancy surveys,
providing quantifiable
information on the impact
of design, which fosters an
environment of continuous
improvement.
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Healthcare Design - August 2018

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