“[TRO Jung/Brannen] is committed without reservation to green design and sustainability in all of our practice areas,” CEO Bob Hoye says.

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Of its five specialized practice areas, healthcare is architectural firm TRO Jung/Brannen ’s largest and represents two-thirds of its volume of projects in revenues. The Boston-based company collaborates on hundreds of healthcare projects a year that range from renovations to ground-up projects valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Founded in 1909, it has grown to include offices in Memphis, Tenn.; Birmingham, Ala.; Sarasota, Fla.; Hartford, Conn.; Beijing, China; and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. "The firm is committed without reservation to green design and sustainability in all of our practice areas,” CEO Bob Hoye says. “The ideology of the company is to better the human condition through design, and we believe green design is a fundamental part of that commitment.

“We’re also aware that many of our clients are looking for different levels of sustainability in their designs, and we respect that and want to align our work with our client’s particular objectives.”

TRO Jung/Brannen is experienced in designing healthcare facilities that incorporate sustainable elements, Hoye says. He, along with Joanne MacIsaac, principal for interior design, and Jamie Newton, principal and director of engineering, discussed green healthcare design in an April interview with Healthcare World.

Healthcare World: Why do you think TRO Jung/Brannen’s healthcare clients are embracing green design?
Joanne MacIsaac: Our clients recognize that it’s easier to go out to the marketplace and get public support for a building that will have some green aspect to it. The relationship between healthy bodies and healthy buildings is not lost on them. Whether it’s using recycled materials or renewable energy, our healthcare clients look for us to make recommendations and guide them through the process.

HW: Is it more difficult for healthcare clients to achieve LEED certification than for your other practice areas?
Bob Hoye: Virtually all of our healthcare clients will incorporate, at the very least, the Green Guide for Health Care even if they’re not necessarily looking to achieve LEED certification.

JM: It’s challenging for healthcare clients to achieve LEED certification, but it’s more achievable for them to meet the guidelines for the Green Guide for Health Care. It is difficult for them to achieve LEED when Department of Health Division requirements could be in conflict with some of the green principles.

Jamie Newton: LEED certification depends on the client’s appetite and budgetary constraints, but we see a real synergy between healthcare and sustainable principles, and our clients certainly embrace that.

HW: When a client is working with a tight budget, what are some of the top green design elements that you recommend?
JM: When clients have limited budgets, I advise them to look at spending that budget on energy-efficient lighting systems, which is something that can offer a quicker return on investment.

JN: Clients are always interested in energy savings. Hospitals are highly energy intensive and as such, that’s a significant drain on their bottom line. Reducing energy usage in what is one of the most highly regulated industries in the country is a significant challenge.

JM: We look at developing lighting systems that have a variety of light levels and that replicate daylight.

JN: One of the credits that you can get within LEED is day-lighting and views. LEED is recognizing that it is really important to have these outside views for quality of experience and the more views you can get, and the more light you can bring into the interior of the building, the better quality of experience.

Hospitals are large institutions and with such large footprints, that can be hard to do. But, we’re seeing more efforts in bringing light deeper and deeper into the spaces of a building.

Another green principle is having individual control over your environment, which has the added benefit of reducing stress for patients.

BH: Patients in a hospital have a narrow tolerance for variation in temperature and are more susceptible to increases and decreases in temperature than healthy people. It is of vital import to their welfare that these LEED principles be implemented where possible.

Other LEED points available are for green roofs, which not only can improve energy efficiency of a building, but can also serve as an amenity for patients.

Green roofs and landscaping provide a connection to nature, which can affect patients’ personal, emotional and sometimes spiritual well-being, which is hard to measure but is of vital import to their ability to heal and improve. So, greening a building doesn’t simply contribute to energy conservation, but a patient’s well-being.

HW: Hospitals are conscious of a patient’s immune system and ability to handle its physical environment. What does the company recommend in terms of materials selection?
JM: In terms of a patient’s immune system, we saw the materials selection trend years ago prior to LEED being established and green being a buzzword.

We’re seeing lower VOC contents in paints and carpets. Materials such as cork flooring are making a comeback, and we haven’t seen cork in healthcare since the 1930s. Cork is a rapidly renewable material. Its resiliency reduces foot fatigue and it has sound-absorbing qualities.

So, it’s a win-win to use more natural materials like cork as opposed to plastic materials, which have been the mainstay for health facilities for so long.

HW: Do you see your healthcare clients continuing to go green?
BH: I’m convinced that healthcare clients are increasingly going to embrace green principles and seek LEED certification the more they realize the minimal costs that are involved and, in particular, when they see that many of these green principles contribute to the wellness of their patients and their staff.