Insights & Solutions

ESa provided master planning and design services to transform the Monument Health Rapid City Hospital campus into a campus equipped to accommodate more patients and to offer more advanced services in an updated environment with efficient patient through-put. Phased improvements include a 260,000 square feet of additions and renovations and a new integrated 80,000-square-foot, four-story hospital office building.

Improvements include a newly relocated, expanded Emergency Department, new bed tower with the addition of 32 critical care beds and shell space, and a Central Utility Plant expansion. The additions have also been designed for future interior buildout, vertical and horizontal expansion.

Hopkins, S., Morgan, P. L., Schlangen, L. J. M., Williams, P., Skene, D. J., & Middleton, B. (2017). Blue-enriched lighting for older people living in care homes: Effect on activity, actigraphic sleep, mood and alertness. Current Alzheimer Research

As we get older, sleep quality suffers, and poor sleep can lead to poor overall health. Our circadian function plays a major role in the quality of our sleep, and research suggests that the physical environment can support better circadian function. Some research shows that residents with dementia in care homes experienced better sleep when exposed to increased light levels. The authors believe this to be the first study to look at the effect on a general population of older people not diagnosed with dementia.

Altizer, Z., Canar, W. J., Redemske, D., Fullam, F., & Lamont, M. (2019). Utilization of a Standardized Post-Occupancy Evaluation to Assess the Guiding Principles of a Major Academic Medical Center. HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal

“Let’s do a POE.” Seems simple, right? Design professionals get the potential value of post-occupancy evaluation, but they often find that there is zero time after construction is complete to create a POE tool and go through the evaluation process. Can standardized tools that have customizable features provide a balanced solution to this evaluation conundrum?  

Lim, L., Kanfer, R., Stroebel R.J., Zimring, C. (2020). Health Environments Research & Design Journal. DOI: 10.1177/1937586719888903

Holly Harris,  at age 28, shares her perspective on healthcare architecture and design in today’s world.  When asked “Many interior design and interior architect students have been known to shy away from specializing in healthcare because they see it as unsexy and boring. What do you say to that and what would you say to them?” Holly’s answer was inspiring. She quickly responded with, “If you don’t like what you’ve experienced or have seen in the world, then you could be the one to change it.”

With debate about SARS-CoV-2 transmission, Italian researchers studied whether the virus’ RNA was on surfaces where COVID-19 patients were receiving care. Two of 26 samples tested positive, suggesting “real life” surface contamination is a lower risk factor than previously reported.