How to Build a Better, Safer, More Welcoming Hospital

A healing garden at Mayo Clinic in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Mayo Clinic Health System, CC BY-SA

We spend much of our time in buildings, and they can have a profound effect on our well-being, for better or for worse. In 1943, Winston Churchill told Britain’s House of Commons that “we shape our buildings, and afterward our buildings shape us.”

Research has shown that effective building design is especially important in hospitals, the potential of which is often overlooked. For example, a recent study of the design of operating rooms—one of the most critical areas in a hospital—reveals how research-informed design can improve safety and performance.