As a part of our hospital visits, we visited the Center for Advanced Care (CAC) at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center (AIMMC) in Chicago. This new facility had been developed by Smith Group JJR in 2015 as a facility for cancer care, digestive health, and ambulatory surgery services.
Navigating to this facility was efficient, as the way-finding was easy compared to most of the healthcare facilities we had visited in the city using public transport system. At the first glance, the design language of the CAC building was strikingly different compared to the rest of the AIMMC.
Evidently, the CAC aimed at creating a healthcare experience through a physical space that was open, inviting and made maximum utilization of natural light. On entering the facility, the most striking feature was a three-story glass atrium lobby and reception area. It had an adjacent lobby connecting the old building, walled by a curved façade that had been designed based on the passive sunshade system.
As told to us, one of their aims was to provide a platform to transform how care is delivered to the patients. I was particularly wanting to observe how the art installed in this facility in the form of paintings and other installation would form an integral part of the caregiving experience. We had been in a discussion about evidence-based art in healthcare facilities in class, learning about Ulrich’s study and research on how visual art in hospitals, that is based on nature, impacted the recovery of patients positively. It is essential to understand the support that the right art can provide to the healing process. However, selecting the right artwork is not as easy as is critical to understand that the viewers of that art are under stress. All people in hospitals are under stress, whether they be patients or visitors.
While talking about Evidence based design in Healthcare, as referenced from the article : Nature Art for Healthcare,
Dr. Roger Ulrich reported in Science that gall bladder surgery patients who got to look out a window at nature went home about one day sooner and took about half as much pain medication when compared to those whose rooms had a view of a brick wall. This lends further support to the idea that nature art is best in healthcare. Dr. Upali Nanda, one of the leading researchers in Evidence-based Design has written: “Viewing artwork with appropriate nature content has been seen to reduce stress and pain perception, as measured by physiological outcomes such as blood pressure, heart-rate, and skin conductance, in addition to self-report measures such as pain-rating scales and surveys.”
At CAC, the lobby had giant vibrantly colored light boxes, inspired by the colors of the most frequently prescribed medications. They were designed by Walead Beshty, an artist based in London, U.K. This installation was visible from both inside and outside, illuminating and brightening the environment. The light boxes were installed to cover up the elevator shafts keeping in mind the future expansion of this Medical Centre. This was quite innovative!
Besides, the reception area had installations of leaf shaped artwork suspended from the ceiling which were made in steel, to maintain the concept of nature. As we proceeded to the other departments within CAC, I came across paintings which were mostly based on nature and forms in the nature. Abstract art, if installed, was mainly in the common areas like the waiting area or the lounge or along the passage-ways.
Very surprisingly, a few sofas in the lounge area had fabric with leaf prints, and so they had surely gone into the depth of this research!
Personalisation of space was another aspect in creating a very stress free environment, from the viewpoint of the patient and caregiver. It was seen through the various festive decorations at CAC that brightened up the space on account of Valentine's Day celebrations, and we learnt that the staff often did that for most festivals around the year.
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