Recently, my son\u2019s girlfriend asked him to help her design and build a new \u201chouse\u201d for her pet bird.\u00a0 After he assured her that he (and I) would be happy to help, he asked her this question: \u201cWHY do you want this new house and how will it make your and your bird\u2019s life better?\u201d\u00a0 I was so proud I almost cried!<\/p>\n
When it comes to Design Approach, so many times the discussion is around WHAT, HOW many, or WHEN?\u00a0 To me, the most important question is WHY.<\/p>\n
I am so focused on understanding the WHY\u2019s of my clients that I feel like a toddler sometimes.\u00a0 You prefer to have more double rooms than single?\u00a0 WHY?\u00a0 You like a decentralized nurse station?\u00a0 WHY?\u00a0 You prefer for the patients to eat all their meals off the unit?\u00a0 WHY?<\/p>\n
I have seen enough projects that the odds are good that I already know why they want that, but as designers we should never assume that we understand our clients\u2019 reasons.\u00a0 I want to know WHY, so that I can understand the depths of the client\u2019s program.\u00a0 Every project should be a bespoke solution to maximize the effectiveness of the client\u2019s treatment paradigm.<\/p>\n
One of the things that makes hX unique is that we do not believe we know the answers to the profession\u2019s big questions.\u00a0 We hear so many debates between architects over whether single rooms are better than double rooms.\u00a0 Or how nurse stations should be arranged.\u00a0 In our mind there is no right answer and therefore no wrong answer until the client\u2019s ideal operational treatment program is fully understood.<\/p>\n
The wrong answer is the one that is misaligned with the client\u2019s vision.\u00a0 The right answer is the one that works for them.\u00a0 Clinicians are far more qualified to decide how to treat their patients than architects are.\u00a0 As consultants, our role is to challenge both Clinicians and Architects to bring design thinking to the whole question and dig deep enough to ensure that we first design the ideal treatment program and then design a physical environment that supports it.<\/p>\n
As consultants, we are a bridge between design and clinical.\u00a0 The more we can challenge preconceived notions and facilitate better and deeper communication about key issues, the better the final result and the smoother the process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Recently, my son\u2019s girlfriend asked him to help her design and build a new \u201chouse\u201d for her pet bird.\u00a0 After he assured her that he (and I) would be happy to help, he asked her this question: \u201cWHY do you want this new house and how will it make your and your bird\u2019s life better?\u201d\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3361,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-behavioral-health"],"yoast_head":"\n