More often, families are choosing facilities that not only prioritize community but make safety features and access control high priorities for their loved ones. So how do we create innovative, inviting spaces that allow residents to engage with one another while keeping areas safe and secure? 

Click to download our key takeaways below. 

In STEM, health, and medical/dental/veterinary student learning facilities, technology is an integral part of a well-conceived and designed learning environment. 

In most learner-centered health and STEM environments, there is a significant amount of simulation-based learning, as this technology evolves, it can reduce or alter the requirements of learning laboratories - saving funds and square-footage that can then be redistributed. 

Explore our predictions and insights on how these emerging VR and visualization tools will change learning labs by clicking below. 

When we look around our rooms and office spaces, we are surrounded by many building materials ingredients and byproducts that may be harmful during one or multiple stages of the material life cycle. Many contain substances that pose a hazard during the manufacturing phase, use phase, or other stage of the life cycle.

For example, while vinyl flooring continues to grow in popularity, there are several serious environmental concerns. It is a nonrenewable material made from petroleum-based chemicals.

Vinyl has the potential to cause harm to both users and a broader environment from manufacturing, through installation and use, and after end-of-life of the material.

Read the case for less vinyl and get ideas for reduction or elimination of its use in your facilities below. 

Industry-wide ASCs have continued to evolve, with cases formally handled in hospital settings taking place there as equipment and procedural sophistication continue to advance. The opportunity to create a “win” for all parties involved, particularity patients, is where the demand has developed. The ability to perform higher level complex cases in orthopedics, cardiology and other specialties has proven that safely testing the boundaries of these centers will continue.

With many health systems and private practices focusing on these dynamic environments due to reimbursement, efficiency, and convenience, it’s important to understand both the drivers and best practices for operation and the facilities themselves

“Material health” is shorthand for strategies to improve the impact of materials on human health. People spend 90% of their time indoors, where pollutants can be 100 times higher than outside. Research shows that common building materials contain harmful chemical substances that can cause both mild and severe effects on health and well-being.

Read our insights for how to select materials for user health by clicking below!

Encompassing products, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and human health solutions, the life science industry is flourishing. HED’s scientific workplace designers have taken a look back on 2022 and are putting forward predictions and lessons learned for 2023 and beyond.

Check them out below!

No one sets out for their project to go on hold – but there are things outside our control that dictate a project’s continuation. If a project has to go on hold, that doesn’t mean all work has to stop, or that you must lose your investment in permitting and planning. 

No one can predict when or where restrictions will be lifted, but we have put together the list of factors you’ll need to  calculate to make the most informed decision and make the most successful plan for your projects. Click below to access them!

Interested in understanding what pandemic design strategies will stick, what we'll see more of, or what designers want to stress to clients in 2023 and beyond? 

Check out some of our 2023 predictions for workplace design by clicking below!

The laboratory is much more than a building filled with scientific instruments: it is a place where minds come together to innovate, discover, and create solutions to pressing issues. A suboptimal workspace can hinder collaboration as well as productivity, and a workspace that includes laboratories has specific needs. The new Wacker Innovation Center and Regional HQ (Wacker) in Ann Arbor, MI, exemplifies this model through its expression of three key design considerations.

Explore the 3 essential design considerations for collaboration in a scientific work environment below!

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within the laboratory environment are vital for the advancement of science and a more equitable society. Education and employment within the sciences has historically been, and is still, majority white and male. As a result, research is often focused on those individuals, missing either the perspective of diverse peoples or the richer data they would impart. Welcoming women, people of color, disabled persons, and diverse cultures, religions, and creeds will expand the realm of discovery. The results of that science will be more valuable and efficient for the diverse world we live in. The benefits are economic as well as social.

There are two routes to consider when thinking about building inclusion and equity within science professions at the facilities level - educational and professional.

Read and download our considerations below. 

Safety is a topic that is usually brought up during the start of construction and oftentimes at owner meetings, toolbox talks, and other contractor-led meetings. Architects usually attend these meetings during construction administration but rarely get involved or have much to offer to the safety conversations.

But how can the architect influence safety on a project? In the architectural and engineering (A/E) industry, we usually attribute safety to the design of safe buildings through building codes, national standards, and good design practices, but architects and engineers have more to contribute.

Explore how by clicking below!

At the recent United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Land Management, the delegation remarked that the San Marino Declaration is the "Hippocratic Oath for architects."

The United Nations have strongly urged architects, city shapers, and engineers to put sustainability principles into action. What does this mean for the practice of architecture and sustainable design going forward, and how should firms respond? Read more by clicking below. 

The science sector has unique needs when it comes to workspaces, including a focus on employee recruiting and retention.

How can a Flex Tech design help meet growing demand, create operational savings, and enable higher performance for teams? Download our approach to learn more!

Consider that rather than trying to compete with the home office, organizations could benefit from embracing and building on it.

Many organizations have settled on the hybrid model, with anywhere from 1 to 3 suggested or mandated “in-office days,” but many express difficulty in getting staff back for even those few days, and that over time attendance has slowly slipped away.

Attempting to compete with someone’s home for comfort and focused space is a losing battle, learn how to work with it by downloading our design insights below. 

Sustainability-focused biophilic design has been generating buzz in the facility management space. By understanding the benefits for building inhabitants and the advantages this strategy provides to organizations of all types, you’ll be better prepared to make decisions about future building projects.

Explore some of the benefits of a sustainability-focused biophilic approach by downloading our handout below!

Flooring is ubiquitous throughout any building, but not all flooring is created equal. When designing or replacing floor in a healthcare setting, material and aesthetic considerations are only half of the equation.

For best practice, a nine-step decision making process will help project stakeholders arrive at the right floor for every space within a facility based on use and function. Download these 9 steps below.

Biophilic design has shown multiple benefits to organizations, but biophilic design is more than just a "green look."

A false impression of sustainability, or "greenwashing," is just the aesthetics of biophilia. A wall of plant life doesn't replace efficient, cleaner HVAC systems, a natural color palette does not make up for insufficient natural light.

To avoid the pitfalls of greenwashed aesthetics, our Sustainable Design Leader Daniel Jaconetti weighs in on 3 key biophilic design components and steps to implementation -- download below:

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The right mix of elements can result in a STEM facility that stimulates interdisciplinary learning and discovery– namely research, collaboration and connection to the campus context.

How can these elements be successfully mixed in situations where innovation is key, and the departmental and programmatic demands are complex?

Download the handout below to learn more about HED’s planning and design strategies that produce behavior shifts in support of interdisciplinary learning and discovery.

The right elements can result in a facility that stimulates interdisciplinary learning and discovery and remains a flexible asset for the changing needs of STEM education.

What elements and strategies create a campus asset for STEM? Download our Discovery Elements book below to find out!

People spend 90 percent of their time in the built environment. Designers have a responsibility to design the built environment through a “culture of health” approach, which helps make informed decisions in the design process that directly impact human health.

How can architects and designers shift their perspective to embrace a role as public health professionals to make an immediate and significant contribution to the ongoing health of our population?

As the healthcare industry continues to shift focus from simply caring for the sick to a more holistic approach of total health management, and as mounting evidence surfaces that anxiety and depression are more prevalent in the general population, it’s becoming increasingly critical for hospitals to find ways to reduce stress and anxiety throughout all areas of a facility.

For facility managers and healthcare designers, it means striving to build care environments for patients and healthcare workers that positively impact mental health. Interestingly, lighting is one of the more powerful tools that designers and engineers are utilizing to meet these challenges.

Since the pandemic and last great recession, healthcare systems have been changing how patients are being served, and subsequently how they operate their facilities to meet these changing needs. In many cases, healthcare systems are moving from massive, centralized hospital campuses that patients must seek out, to smaller “doc-in-a-box” facilities that can serve dispersed patients closer to their homes and places of work. Add to this the complications of air quality and filtration from the pandemic, and air quality and movement become ever more front of mind. 

To respond healthcare providers are finding solutions to help ensure success at procedural levels, while saving money and increasing redundancy and control in HVAC systems.

To meet these challenges and others, there are several trends to watch in the HVAC design of both new and existing facility renovations beyond stricter cleaning and filtration. 

Experts estimate there are over 11 million unfulfilled positions in the US alone at the outset of 2022. Why are there so many unfulfilled positions? This problem, and its contributors, didn’t take root overnight: economic expansion, delays due to COVID-19, and a growing digital skills mismatch have led to a highly competitive talent environment where holding talent is as critical as finding it.

The companies that connect the dots between compensation, talent development, mentorship/promotions, work/life balance and DE&I will be the victors in the war for talents.

How does an office support those strategic initiatives?

“Flex tech,” or flexible technology, is a framework for thinking about building design—primarily for real estate developers and investors, but also for companies looking to purpose-build their own facility or tenants evaluating leasable properties. It’s a framework that developers and building owners should have in their mind to make their buildings functional and desirable.

Tenants in the sciences should also be looking for when leasing space so that the space will suit their needs long-term through any growth, contraction, or reorganizing.

If you’re implementing these infrastructure practices, the space will be easy to lease and easy to rent for a wide variety of highly technical tenants for decades to come.

The laboratory is much more than a building filled with scientific instruments; it is a place where minds come together to innovate, discover, and create solutions to pressing issues.

A suboptimal workspace can hinder collaboration as well as productivity, and a workspace that includes laboratories has specific needs. The scientific workplace is a framework that focuses on fostering collaboration and creating a space where scientists love to work – discover the key traits of a successful scientific workplace here.

How can we make the work environment healthier and more productive as the nation returns to the workplace?

There is a wide array of options for tenants and landlords alike to choose from to actively promote health and wellness in the workplace. While there is no “silver bullet,” and no two organizations’ solution will be the same, here are some key points from design leaders to consider as you return to work.

When it comes to planning and support of our front front-line workers, the US has become complacent. In the past decade, we have concentrated on refining and squeezing efficiencies from what had become the norm, which has actually narrowed the range of options to consider as a result. Planning in this way has left us ill-prepared for a crisis (compared to the mobilized community response during the 2005 SARS outbreak). Meanwhile, natural disasters, violence in the community, and the ongoing frustrating fight against proliferating virus variants threaten to increase the number of reasons for caregiver stress.

The pandemic is a disruptor that activated a sea change for healthcare and frontline workers alike. What do we know about burnout, and how can it be mitigated or eased with spatial solutions?

How can you resolve the three biggest challenges in affordable housing: affordability, social justice, and environmental stewardship, quickly and efficiently?

When opening a new hospital building, it’s a safe bet that you are going to be initiating your first renovation to that building very soon. Continual improvements to best practices, technology, and regulatory changes in the medical industry, coupled with lengthy construction periods, often combine to require these renovations to newly opened healthcare facilities. While setting up this inevitable architectural game of chess, you need to be thinking two moves ahead, all while accepting random new pieces added midstream to the proverbial chess board.

Through projects for private healthcare providers, university medical centers and government entities, we have sometimes learned these lessons the hard way or on the heels of another design predecessor’s mistakes. In preparation for this eventuality, we suggest the following 10 strategies for future-proofing the design of a new healthcare building and to help launch these inevitable future renovation endeavors off on the right foot.

We polled higher education institutions across the country – asking what they value in planning and utilizing their STEM spaces.

While there’s no doubt that the priority on safety from transmissible disease will, and should, climb up the operations/facility leader and designer’s priority list after this year, where it fits within the context of existing design priorities will be the challenge.

New design tools and guidelines exist to address safety, and hospitals and designers should be confident in designing with a balanced approach to deliver the appropriate patient room needs in these spaces.

What makes an office great? Or perhaps a more apt phrasing for this post-pandemic moment might be: What makes an office a productive, inviting, and, at the very least, tolerable place to do work?