Healthcare Design - September 2019 - 28

HCD 10
INTERIOR
DESIGNER

"I approach every
project from a point of curiosity and the
belief that design can change the lives of
the people who utilize our spaces. Designers have an incredible responsibility to positively affect the people who
will use a space and enhance the communities where they are built."

Principal and
senior interior
designer, GBBN
(Cincinnati)

28
28 28

SSEEPPTTEEM
MBBEERR 22 00 11 99

W H O S H E I S : Brooke Behnfeldt joined
GBBN's Cincinnati office in 1998, where she
serves as principal and senior interior designer.
Her work has crossed a variety of markets and
typologies, including not-for-profit organizations, higher education, and corporate workplace-all of which she uses to bring new ideas
and perspectives to healthcare environments.
She also mentors junior designers on staff and
co-leads GBBN's annual Design Expedition
trips that explore architecture and design in different cities around the world .  

Delivering a diverse portfolio
of projects this past year, Behnfeldt was instrumental in developing a wayfinding and arrival
sequence strategy for Cincinnati Children's
Hospital Medical Center; rethinking workplace strategy for TriHealth, a multihospital
healthcare system based in Cincinnati; and
transforming the Ronald McDonald House
at Cincinnati Children's into the largest in
the world. Using her deep knowledge of how
people use space gained from working across
so many sectors, she focused on the journey
within these environments to empower patients, families, and staff and choreographed
the experiences to be positive every step of
the way. Specifically, at Cincinnati Children's,
she emphasized reducing visual clutter to
create a hierarchy of space within the main
arrival corridor and provided generous areas
for patients and family members to pause and
transition before continuing to their appointment or visit. Working with TriHealth, she led
brainstorming sessions with 200 people at all
levels of administration to inform an evolution of the system's administrative offices to
become shared amenity spaces that support
collaboration and interaction. While expanding the Ronald McDonald House, she participated in stakeholder interviews and encouraged creating both the communal and respite
spaces that users desired, including a rooftop
terrace.

YEAR IN REVIEW:

TOP: TriHealth corporate
headquarters A B OV E :
Rendering of Ronald
McDonald House at Cincinnati Children's Hospital
Medical Center

I N D U S T RY I M PA C T: Throughout her work,
Behnfeldt focuses on transforming some of the
most anxiety-ridden spaces into calming places
for families, patients, and staff. Guided by her
belief that designers "have a responsibility to
recognize and promote the humanity of all people," she advocates for using design to promote
independence, instill confidence, reassure and
inspire, and recognize individuals by de-institutionalizing the experience of healthcare. Using a thorough discovery process to uncover an
organization's true needs, she's able to deliver
transformational spaces that positively impact
the way people work, seek treatment, and heal.
WHAT'S NEXT: In the coming months, she's
working with University of Cincinnati Health
on new facility guidelines for the academic
health system across all its environments,
looking beyond creating standards for finishes and products to developing a strategy that
lays the foundation for a cohesive approach to
branded environments.-AD

SPOTLIGHT ON

HCD EXPO

HCDMAGAZINE.COM

The HCD 10 winners will be recognized during
the Healthcare Design magazine awards
luncheon taking place at the HCD Expo &
Conference, Nov. 2-5 in New Orleans. The
celebration will include photos and highlights from
the HCD 10 awards dinner being held at HCD Forum
in September. Visit HCDexpo.com for conference
information and to register.

RYAN KURTZ (TRIHEALTH); GBBN (RONALD MCDONALD)

brooke

BE NFELDT

M I S S I O N S TAT E M E N T:
http://www.HCDexpo.com http://www.HCDexpo.com http://www.HCDMAGAZINE.COM
Healthcare Design - September 2019

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