Design's positive impact on healthcare institutions.

Cannon Design's approach to the planning and design of any healthcare project can have a measurable and positive impact on the institution, its campus, and its constituents.

Our process offers a forum for discussion and provides the structure to accomplish a wide variety of objectives, from the creation of a distinctive image to functional improvements that touch the entire hospital complex. For the clinicians, it is an opportunity to establish a facility that aggressively advances patient care, teaching, and research initiatives. For the patient, it is an opportunity to experience a supportive environment that is a positive contributor to treatment and healing. And for the organization, it creates the vehicle to implement critical programs, developing the space and facilities essential to maintaining market presence and achieving business objectives. The process of implementation is complex, but a successful project reflects the unique mission, values and image of the institution.

Historically, healthcare institutions were able to devise and adopt a detailed plan for program and facilities development over a 10-15 year horizon.

Our experience has shown that the rapid pace of change in medical treatments and technology and the resulting impact on care delivery systems have rendered this traditional timeframe and approach outdated.

Successful projects are characterized by planning goals and project objectives that reflect a broad consensus among client leadership, user groups, and other interested parties. Cannon Design recognizes the value of consensus building and dedicates significant time and effort to its achievement. Inviting all stakeholders to the table at the earliest stage is the key to the design process. By listening to the issues, concerns, and suggestions brought forth by all user groups, we can gather a clear understanding of how the institution functions now and how it hopes to in the future.

The planning and design process is a collaborative effort between many parties. To be successful, the process must be structured and well managed, requiring the ongoing commitment of our principals and senior level personnel to the project. Our overriding consideration in structuring our project teams is to offer the client our very best, taking advantage of the skills available from the full professional resources of the entire firm from planners, architects and designers to engineers, construction cost and schedule analysts as needed.

Our work in healthcare reflects the strategic aims and needs expressed by each of our clients. Operational efficiency, functionality, flexibility, aesthetic appeal and environmental quality are virtually universal goals and we have proven our ability to understand and address those issues.

As one of our first steps, Cannon hosts a Design Charrette, an intense interactive working session, which seeks to create synergy between the client and project team in defining the project goals.

The client's participation throughout the process promotes ownership by all constituents, encourages the spirit of communication and collaboration, and establishes the foundation for the mutually agreed goals that will shape the project.

By developing a thorough understanding of the client's mission and their leadership's approach to the project, the Cannon Design team can better focus on issues deemed critical to success.

Cannon believes that to truly create a healing environment, planners and designers need to address many issues that go beyond the building itself. A patient's perception of their experience is shaped by many factors, the most important related to human interaction, process, competence, and speed. These issues may have little to do with architecture directly, but are greatly influenced by it. A "spirit of adventure" is one of the driving forces of Cannon's work. Architectural invention cannot ignore history, tradition, context or site characteristics. While design must acknowledge these influences, it must embrace experimentation, creativity and innovation at the same time. In meeting client goals, we believe architects have a responsibility to design with great attention to the quality of life in the spaces we create. Architecture has the ability to transform. Emotions evoked by the quality of these spaces, whether dramatic or serene, energizing or comforting, have a direct effect on the people who live, work and experience these surroundings.

The development of a comprehensive and consistent interior design vocabulary is essential, touching everything from materials, finishes and colors; furniture, furnishings and artwork to lighting and wayfinding systems.

With guidelines and standards, we create and develop environments that are attractive to all users, negating the common perception of healthcare institutions as cold, forbidding, and utilitarian. The result is a therapeutic, nurturing environment that fosters individual independence and dignity, expresses cultural and spiritual values, reduces patient stress, supports family interactions and enables physicians, nurses and staff to optimize patient focused care.

Our recent work includes a number of examples of our process and approach. In 2002, Cannon Design was engaged by Stony Brook University Hospital to prepare a new site master plan, reviewing proposed programs and developing realistic alternatives that would enable the hospital and school of medicine to maximize future opportunities for growth and renewal. Through design development meetings with the client, the team was able to provide Stony Brook with the organization of its site, as well as delivering the project sooner than previously planned.

Another current project is underway at the South Nassau Communities Hospital. Here a $63 million, five-story addition features a glassen-closed conservatory that functions as a lobby connecting the original 75-year-old hospital with the new 170,000 sf building. One of the challenges facing the design team was determining the ideal location for the new addition without obscuring views of the cupola, a symbol of the facility.