The healthcare designers at Anshen & Allen have teamed up with the International Facility Management Association’s Health Care Council to design the “Green Patient Lab”. The room is a traveling exhibit that displays how easily and effectively sustainable practices can be applied in the healthcare setting. Historically, hospitals and other healthcare facilities have been slow to catch up to the green movement because of their 24-hour-a-day operating schedule and need for highly durable and cleanable materials.
Finally, the need for natural materials and energy efficiency has taken hold. The Green Patient Lab proves that sustainable design can improve patient care, increase efficiency, and reduce the anxiety of medical staff, patients, and families. The 400-sq.-ft. room displays materials and technologies that are economically viable, readily available, and appropriate for use in intensive healthcare settings. Placards throughout describe the design decisions and the benefits of each. Many strategies draw on the principles of evidence-based design, reflecting research into the ways that healthcare architecture and interior design can improve medical outcomes, financial performance, and consumer satisfaction. Visitors to the exhibit have the opportunity to give feedback by filling out a survey.
The Green Patient Room takes practical, cost-effective steps to reduce resource consumption while improving patient health. Low-flow rate laminar flow faucets, showerheads, and toilets minimize water consumption. High-performance lighting, glass, and insulation systems, along with extensive use of natural lighting, cut energy costs. Non-toxic materials low in VOC emissions are used throughout to improve air quality and speed patient recovery. 
The room is organized into three zones: patient, family, and staff. Each area is meant to improve patient care by increasing comfort and minimizing disorder and stress. The patient zone, which includes the bathroom and much of the bedroom, is designed to give patients as much control over their environment as possible. Potentially intimidating medical equipment is discreetly located on one side of the bed, easily accessible to medical staff yet out of sight of patients and their families.
The family zone is designed to encourage family stays, in response to studies showing that families who visit frequently and stay longer are more involved in patient care, helping to improve patient well-being and facilitate healing. Reminiscent of a living room, this family space includes a sleeper sofa, television, desktop space, and other amenities.
The staff zone is organized to accommodate staff workflow and offer better access to equipment by reducing clutter and improving lighting, thereby helping minimize injury and medical error. A dedicated work area provides electronic charting, a hand-washing sink, and desk space.
This room also features an outdoor terrace with seating area, coffee table, and plants. A terrace may be difficult to incorporate in many healthcare settings, because of regulations, safety, buildings codes, and conventional construction practices, but it illustrates the benefits of connecting patients to the outdoors. Studies show that patients with views to nature heal more quickly. The low-wall displacement ventilation system is also uncommon in the United States, but reduces energy use and improves indoor air quality.
http://www.anshen.com/data/ideas/Greening%20Patient%20Experience%20brochure.pdf
Daniel Libeskind, architect renowned for his designs at the Jewish Museum in Berlin, the Denver Art Musuem and the World Trade Center site in New York, has taken on a new project. He is designing bold and exciting pre-fabricated housing with the dramatic angles of a prism. While most architects working on pre-fabricated housing have used small footprints and conservative budgets in order to make their designs easy to mass produce, Libeskind has taken a different approach. He has created a 5,500-square-foot, two-story villa which can be shipped and assembled anywhere. It includes luxuries like a solar thermal system, 12 foot-tall rain shower, a fireplace room, a wine cellar and a sauna in the basement. The homes will cost $2.8 million to $4.2 million, depending on the destination. Buyers of these homes will be promised regional exclusivity to ensure that they will be the only ones in their neighborhood with the design.
“Too often we celebrate great civic institutions,” Mr. Libeskind continued, “but actually architecture is how people live and how well they live.” The house is built of wood construction and clad in aluminum with zinc accent strips that the buyer can specify from 2 color options. For finishings, buyers can choose between a highly stylized, Libeskind interior, or the “casual style,” which showcases warmer finishes like parquet floors and softer lighting.
http://www.daniel-libeskind.com/projects/show-all/the-villa-libeskind-signature-series/
If you are looking for a dose of design on a beautiful September day and haven’t yet seen the High Line in NYC, then this is your chance! The High Line is a public park promenade constructed on the remnants of a railway built in the 1930’s that runs 30 feet above Manhattan between 10th and 11th Avenues, from 34th Street to Gansevoort Street in the meatpacking district. The first phase opened to the public June 9, 2009.
The design, lead by, Principal in charge James Corner of Field Operations, and architectural team, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, is meant to be a retreat from the hustle and bustle of the city to a floating green space with views of the Hudson River. The design keeps the “romance in ruins” by maintaining some elements of its gritty past such as railroad ties and graffiti art among the grasses and trees. The designers used the remnants to create special moments along the walk to stop and take in the history of the site by using the railroad tracks to create movable benches that slide along the rails to create intimate groups or using the old train shed windows to make a beautiful peice of art glass.
The first portion of the three-section High Line, which runs near the Hudson River from Gansevoort Street to West 20th Street, will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. There are entrances at Gansevoort Street (stairs) and at 16th Street (elevator); exits are located every few blocks.
The second phase, which extends to 30th Street, is under construction and expected to be completed by fall 2010. The third phase, up to 34th Street, has yet to be approved.The project has already transformed the area near its 22-block stretch near the river, prompting some of the most ambitious development in the city in years.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/06/08/arts/design/20090608_HIGHLINEPANO_INTERACTIVE.html