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At Elks Children’s Eye Clinic, planners centered their thinking around visual impairments and identifying flaws in current designs. The NBBJ team walked through OHSU’s Casey Eye Institute while simulating various eye conditions to better understand how patients experience the facility’s environment. They also sought patients’ opinions.
“We came to learn that this isn’t really what the space is going to look like for all of the patients coming through,” said Alex Almerico, senior associate interior designer at NBBJ. “Each patient is going to see it differently, so we developed visuals to illustrate what each of their patients will experience walking into the space to help us better understand what a day in their shoes is like.”
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In internal surveys, patients with visual impairments described difficulty accessing the entryway, irritating glare from the sun on all-white surfaces and an inability to distinguish doors from walls because of a lack of color contrast.
To mitigate these shortcomings, NBBJ placed varying paint swatches and textures on the floors and ceilings to intuitively guide patients through the space without the need for excess signage, Almerico said. Rather than have patients navigate the halls by touching the walls, they incorporated guardrails to lead them directly to elevators and exam rooms.
Outside, the landscape architect laid sand-finished concrete that reduced glare in the parking lot, created a sensory garden and removed unintended barriers to entering the building.
“We always have designed with empathy and a desire to understand the community that we’re designing for, what their experiences are like and what their struggles are on a day-to-day basis,” Almerico said.
A team made up entirely of women at NYU Langone Health designed a 195,000-square-foot multispecialty clinic offering gynecological, obstetric and women’s wellness care. They filled the space with furniture and art created mostly by women.
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