Perkins Eastman designs quality healthcare and senior living facilities.

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As one of the top-10 architectural and design firms in the world, Perkins Eastman provides services to sectors that range from corporate, housing and education to laboratories, religious and hospitality. However, as of late, nearly half of its business is healthcare- and senior living-related, the company says.

“We have been recognized in senior living and healthcare and that has put us onto an international platform in Japan, China and the Middle East, and now we’re looking at the former Soviet states,” Dave Hoglund, national director of senior living, says.

He credits much of Perkins Eastman’s success in healthcare and senior living projects to the firm’s willingness to incorporate knowledge it has gained from the other markets it serves.

“What has intrigued all of us in the firm is there is what you call a blurring between our practice areas; one informs the other,” Hoglund continues. “We see the return of seniors to the urban core, so we’re working with our housing practice. Or, we can bring in our country club projects and see how spas impact senior living. We’re seeing all of our practice areas push each other to bring new ideas to the table.”

“Clients are what’s driving that,” Principal Richard Sprow adds. “We had a healthcare client that asked us to help them design a wellness center, which brings in different aspects of healthcare, fitness, retail, spa therapy and education. “We’re also seeing how things like corporate interior design applies to that.”

Hoglund says this also gives Perkins Eastman the ability to understand its clients’ business models. “Sometimes the nicest compliment we get is that we talk to them from their business standpoint,” he notes.

In an interview with Healthcare World, Hoglund and Sprow discussed notable industry trends, how hospitals and senior living facilities are responding to these changes and what advice Perkins Eastman has been giving its healthcare clients to prepare for an indefinite future.

Healthcare World: What are some trends you’re seeing in the healthcare industry?
Dave Hoglund: There is a greater interest in returning to the city and being in the center of culture. We’re seeing more urban high-rise or mid-rise buildings. We see a relationship with continuing education, which provides them easy access to healthcare. People are also looking for higher-quality physical environments. They’re searching for privacy – a lifestyle that mirrors something in their past.

Richard Sprow: Once the bar is raised, it stays raised – whether it’s a hospital environment, senior environment or a cup of coffee. It becomes a standard of what people expect. Should things be green and sustainable? Sure. It’s part of the culture now. Should hospitals be patient and family friendly? That started off as a radical idea; now it’s like, of course. Why wouldn’t the patient rooms have spaces for families to stay over? You see attractive hospitals on TV, and now you expect it. Why wouldn’t a hospital look like that in real life?

HW: Are you seeing institutions upgrade their operations more frequently?
RS: We’re seeing institutions upgrade out of necessity. Several years ago, when codes changed nationally, they recommended all single rooms and there was a lot of talk in the press about what a ridiculous extravagance that would be. Now they realize they can better serve patients this way.

As a result, this accelerates the healthcare building cycle. There had been a 20-year healthcare building cycle that became a 10-year cycle and now it’s becoming shorter still. Now we’re seeing that after five years, an institution may need to be adjusted because the market is shifting or you might have the wrong technology.

Healthcare, like everything else, has become a market-driven practice. There is constant pressure for institutions to stay on the leading edge and meet people’s expectations. They realize they need to re-think things and update their master plans.

DH: It used to be that most sponsors would build their communities, and the next thing they had to worry about was changing the carpet and wallpaper. Now, we’re working with clients to change their dining operations. We’re looking at wellness, fitness, spirituality and adding in pieces that are not currently there. Those master plans are critical in helping clients understand who they are and what their strengths are in the industry.

HW: What advice do you have for your clients during the planning process?
RS: What we argue for in the planning process is building for flexibility – building for the things that you are unable to predict right now. Flexibility goes hand-in-hand with the difficulty of projecting what your expectations are going to be. We’ve been advocating to people, “Let’s make this space flexible so it can be used by different people on different days of the week. It would be nice to be able to shift exam rooms from one purpose to the other.”

HW: Could this concept of flexibility apply to senior living facilities, as well?
DH: I think one of the significant aspects of senior living facilities is what we call clustering, where eight to 15 residents live in a household. This is perfect for a lot of people who don’t want to end up in a traditional nursing facility and are looking for something more intimate. It goes back to the word flexibility in creating a household that has a specialized program. This gives sponsors more flexibility in how they staff, as well as how they occupy those rooms.

Now we’re creating households where people can get up and eat at any time in the morning and respond to the lifestyle they had before they entered the facility. We’re raising the bar and making sure it’s raised to the right level. We’re seeing our clients use the information we provided them to make sure the operational side is meeting the goals they have set.

HW: You mentioned design concepts that will provide sponsors more flexibility in how they staff. Do you find this especially important due to the impending labor shortage?
RS: If you look at people who are 15 now, they are going to be the healthcare professionals for the baby boomer generation. How do you design a hospital to attract those people and retain them and deal with the fact that there are fewer of them than us?

They expect a certain level of environment and attention to their needs as people. They won’t work in a badly lit basement as people used to do. So how do you position yourselves to be at the forefront of a place where people want to work?

Radiology isn’t as interested in building X-ray machines these days. They’re looking at the corporate hospitality interior design side to see how they can make things more ergonomically appealing, so they can recruit new radiologists in a part of the hospital that is not usually considered much of a design opportunity.

Everyone in the healthcare world is looking at how the business will operate on into the future. They’re taking a more business-like approach and thinking more strategic thoughts about where they want to go and how their facilities will help them reach those goals.

HW: How might Perkins Eastman help them reach these goals?
DH: With the size of the firm, the reach that we have and our reputation for being leaders in senior living and healthcare, we have the depth of experience and resources that gives us the option to take on large, complex assignments or very small, specialized niche projects. We’re always on the leading edge of a new idea and we want to continue to generate new ideas.

The bar stays raised and that’s how we want to position ourselves, our work and our projects.