Healthcare Design - March 2017 - 64

Time

ON INDUSTRY TRENDS
Clients who are
rethinking traditional private offices as
a must-have in hospitals.
There's nothing worse
than taking dollars and
square footage away from
the clinical environment to

HOW I USE DESIGN TO LIGHTEN
T H E L O A D O F PA R E N T S W I T H
H O S P I TA L I Z E D C H I L D R E N

create private offices that
largely sit empty.

During each project, we hold focus groups with families
using that hospital and strive to let their voices be heard
throughout the process. As designers, I think we place
a lot of emphasis on creating beautiful spaces, which is
certainly important, but giving parents plentiful outlets
in a day-surgery waiting room to keep their phones
charged or allowing them to try out different sleeper
sofas before a selection is made has the ability to profoundly transform their hospital experience.

Concealable medical gas cabinets.
They're a pain to design
and are always open
anyway.

JOB BEFORE JOINING HKS
I waited tables at a steakhouse in college. Perpetually
smelling like Cajun ribeye and salad dressing was great
motivation to do well in school.

F AV O R I T E . . .
A R C H I T E C T / D E S I G N E R Lake Flato, Mies Van
Der Rohe, and Tadao Ando
Q U O T E "If a picture's worth a thousand words, use
a picture."-my co-worker Bernita Beikmann
VA C AT I O N S P O T Maui. Mmmmm...
PIECE OF FURNITURE IN YOUR HOUSE
I have a fantastic marble-topped, inlaid sideboard
that folds out into a full bar. My grandmother
purchased it decades ago with her pin money and
gifted it to me before she passed away. My grandparents threw the best parties, and I hope that I do
it justice.
L I N E F R O M A M O V I E I'm a good Southern
girl and can quote "Steel
Magnolias" by heart.
S N A C K Cheese!
WAY T O U N W I N D
A F T E R A L O N G D AY
Pre-baby: Relax with a
good book. Post-baby:
Go to bed at 8 p.m.
WEEKEND ACTIVITY
I take my son to a gym
class every Saturday
morning, which I, of
course, count as a
workout.

THREE WORDS MY COWORKERS
USE TO DESCRIBE ME

1
2
3

good listener
passionate
empathetic

RACHEL KNOX

Associate principal/
senior vice president and
pediatric practice leader,
health group, HKS

RACHEL KNOX'S APPRECIATION for

architecture began with the houses
in the small town of Marksville, La.,
where she grew up. "I loved to look
at the exterior and try to guess what was happening on the interior," she says. "In the fourth
grade, I had a wonderful teacher who taught a
class on architects and architecture. There was
no looking back." And while she did become an
architect, her early love of residential design later met some competition. Shortly after joining
HKS 15 years ago, she took on a project for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. "I was so humbled
and inspired at the thought that we could positively impact the lives of such a vulnerable patient population," she says. A few years ago she
was named pediatric practice leader for HKS'
health group and has recently led projects for
McLane Children's Hospital in Temple, Texas,
and Our Lady of the Lake Children's Hospital in
Baton Rouge, La. "I find that I'm more and more
fascinated with each one, so why stop?" she
says.-Anne DiNardo

MARCH 2017

with a goatee

3 a mug that says:

"Only you can prevent
scope creep"

ON A LIFETIME OF
A D V E N T U R O U S E AT I N G
My first solid food as a
baby was boiled crawfish.
My dad thought this
was a fine idea for a
6 month old. My mom
was horrified, but apparently I liked the taste. I

absolutely love to try new
foods, especially when I
travel. I also collect menus
from restaurants that do
laughable interpretations
of Louisiana food-just
don't. Please!

OUTSIDE
THE OFFICE,
Y O U ' L L L I K E LY
FIND ME...
Spending time with my
husband, son, and our
two crazy Jack Russell
terriers. We once hired
a dog whisperer to work
with them, and he said they were two of the most headstrong dogs he had ever encountered.

D E TA I L S Parker Adventist Hospital in Parker, Colo.
I did a lot of the roof details and still keep a piece of
ballast on my nightstand.

BIGGEST PET PEEVE ON A
PROJECT

64

1 family pictures
2 a Mr. Potato Head

F I R S T H E A LT H C A R E D E S I G N
PROJECT

(I would have included "sarcastic.")

When no one schedules lunch. I. Have. To. Eat.

THREE ITEMS ON MY DESK

RENDERING OF OUR LADY OF THE LAKE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL IN
B ATON ROU GE, LA., WHICH IS E XPECTED TO BE COMPLETED IN 2019.

HCDMAGAZINE.COM

LESSON I LEARNED Carefully organized drawings
are important through all project phases. To this
day, I have no tolerance for unaligned text or sloppy
leader lines.

HKS (OUR LADY OF THE LAKE)

fac e
Healthcare Design - March 2017

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