Presentation by Tye Farrow in Singapore on June 25, 2009 at the 6th World Congress on Health and Design advocates design quality standards that recognize the true human experience of being in a hospital setting.

1. ©FarrowPartnershipArchitects/CreditValleyHospital/photo:TomArban
Bringing Hospitals to Life
DESIGN QUALITY STANDARDS
Farrow Partnership Architects Inc.
Tye Farrow, B Arch, M Arch UD, OAA, FRAIC, MAIBC, NSAA, NLAA
INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY FOR DESIGN & HEALTH
6TH WORLD CONGRESS
SINGAPORE | JUNE 25, 2009

2. Patient-focused care & healing
environments have been espoused
in the industry for 25 years.

4. “Healthy people, healthy communities…”
Often staff entrance located in the back of hospitals, where they walk past the dirty laundry and the biohazard storage rooms.

5. Clearly, there is a gap between what we say
we want, and what we actually build.
©FarrowPartnershipArchitects

6. Dismal buildings that fail to answer
the most fundamental question…
What really happens here?

7. People don’t consciously want to
create something mediocre

8. So, there’s a say-do gap.
What is it we’re not doing?

9. What’s missing are the intangible qualities
that can’t be captured so easily.
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11. ©FarrowPartnershipArchitects/WellesleyCentralPlace/photo:PeterSellar

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15. Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre
Farrow Partnership Architects

16. Credit Valley Hospital
Farrow Partnership Architects
©photo:TyeS.Farrow

17. Credit Valley Hospital
Farrow Partnership Architects

18. ©FarrowPartnershipArchitects/CreditValleyHospital/photo:PeterSellar

20. ©FarrowPartnershipArchitects

21. Intangible qualities have
tangible benefits.

22. “So much of long term success is
based on intangibles. Beliefs and
ideas. Invisible concepts.”
Isadore Sharp,Chairman and CEO,
Four Seasons Hotels, Resorts and Residences

23. What are some of “the givens”
of working with intangibles?

24. The nature of intangible qualities
• Connection between
intangibles and
tangibles is not always
obvious.
• Typically valued at zero
by those who resist
assigning rough
numbers.
• Often dismissed by those who
believe that only things that
can be counted count.
• Direct personal experience at
a hospital can change the
minds of those people
©FarrowPartnershipArchitects

25. How does something that important get left out?

26. It’s the result of a process that
pays little attention to precisely
defining and monitoring
human-centered design quality
standards.

27. Well…how can this be fixed?
Design Quality Standards
that take into account the
human nature of design

28. . . .created through open
inquiry that explores aspects
of the hospital environment
that decision makers may
never have considered

29. Using an dialogue and discovery
process that draws on the work
of leaders in learning and
group dynamics, including:
Donald Schoen: reflective practice, MIT
Chris Argyris: organizational learning, Harvard
Karl Weick: “sensemaking,” foreseeing problems, Michigan
Malcolm Knowles: adult learning principles
Kurt Lewin: experiential learning
William Isaacs, dialogue & thinking together, MIT

30. A better way.
Jointly set
ambitious
boundaries.
©FarrowPartnershipArchitects

31. source: Farrow Partnership Architects Inc.

32. Norfolk General Hospital
Farrow Partnership Architects

33. Think through
the possibilities
together.
A better way.
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35. Format
• Facilitated dialogue and
discovery
• Half-day, includes steering
committee and key
consultants
Pre-Design Workshops
Purpose
• Uses shared learning approach
to raising aspirations
• Identify and prevent roadbocks
©FarrowPartnershipArchitects

36. Diagnostic Tools
Format
• Create strategic criteria in
four categories
• Use as basis for
constructive dialogue
Purpose
• Highlight “say-do” gap between
good intentions and reality
• Monitor progress toward these
design and planning priorities
• Fast, simple way to keep project
intangibles on target
©FarrowPartnershipArchitects

37. Brand Discovery and Image Analysis
Workshop
Format
• Facilitated critique of built
design images
• Analyze message
conveyed by various
approaches to design
Purpose
• Create better critics to assess
intended brand image
• Define how message will
translate into physical form
©FarrowPartnershipArchitects

38. Pre-Design Workshops
Format
• Dialogue and discovery
• Forum for thinking options
through together
• Aims to make design
process transparent
Purpose
• Promotes shared responsibility
for legacy we’re creating
©FarrowPartnershipArchitects

39. National Oncology Center
Trinidad and Tobago
Farrow Partnership Architects

40. Capture the
intangibles that
emerge.
A better way.
©FarrowPartnershipArchitects

41. • Monitor project “vital signs”
• Basis of collaborative conversation
• Assess progress toward shared goals
Balanced Scorecard
©FarrowPartnershipArchitects

42. What kind of words make an emotional connection ?

43. “ . . . . .together these guiding
principles will provide the
framework for planning the new
hospital.”
?

44. …need to be more precise, more inspiring more human.

45. Mundane words lead to mundane results.

46. Wellesley Central Place / Rekai Centre
Farrow Partnership Architects

47. How do we know this is a better approach?

48. The Angus Reid Report
• Report based on anonymous interviews
with six healthcare client representatives,
undertaken by an independent North
American research firm1
1. Angus Reid Strategies
www.angusreidstrategies.com

49. The Angus Reid report feedback
“...learned as much about ourselves as
we did about the principles of design.”
“...raised expectations for what is possible.”
“...that iterative process
was really important.”

50. “...provide hope and inspiration.”
“...optimum balance between reaching all the
desires of the facility and maintaining cost
effectiveness.”
The Angus Reid report feedback

51. Interviews with six healthcare clients representing these projects:
Credit Valley HospitalKaplan Medical Center Colchester Regional Hospital
Thunder Bay Regional Health SciencesBluewater Health Kelowna General Hospital

54. The learning process
“We learned what our own important
values were in terms of design features
– they weren’t sold to us, they were
actually developed by us.”

55. “…created a shared sense of
responsibility for the outcome of our
design standards amongst
stakeholders and the architects.”
Shared responsibility

56. Specific and meaningful
“The design standards we developed were
specific and meaningful to our project
stakeholders.”

57. Specific and meaningful: establishing a physical identity
CreditValleyHospitalWebsite

58. Co-creation process
“The process of developing and
implementing design standards could be
described as one of “co-creation” for what
was achieved.”

59. Kaplan Medical Center
Farrow Partnership Architects
The concept of co-creation

60. Dialogue process
“...helped stakeholders understand relevant
issues, options and the significance of their
choices.”

61. Minimizing roadblocks
“... The design standards creation process
helped identify potential roadblocks and how
they might be circumvented.”

62. Raising expectations
“...raised my expectations of what is
possible.”

63. St Mary’s Hospital /Sechelt, British Columbia
Farrow Partnership Architects in association with
Busby Perkins + Will Architects

64. People inherently want to
do / build something great
for themselves and their
community.
Concluding Thoughts
©FarrowPartnershipArchitects

65. Wade into the conversation on intangibles
This is not about force-feeding or buy-in
Human Process = Human Design
Concluding Thoughts
©FarrowPartnershipArchitects
©FarrowPartnershipArchitects

66. Bringing Hospitals to Life
DESIGN QUALITY STANDARDS
Farrow Partnership Architects Inc.
Tye Farrow, B Arch, M Arch UD, OAA, FRAIC, MAIBC, NSAA, NLAA
INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY FOR DESIGN & HEALTH
6TH WORLD CONGRESS
SINGAPORE | JUNE 25, 2009
©FarrowPartnershipArchitects/CreditValleyHospital/photo:TomArban