Designing for Health: The Changing Interior Design Profession
December 1, 2014
“Environmental design truly has psychological and behavioral impacts, and there is no place more important for great design than the stressful, life-in-balance world of healthcare. The friendships with nurses and physicians and the thank you notes from the parents make healthcare interior design an incredibly rewarding profession.”
More than 20 years ago, upon entering the professional interior design world, ready to make a difference in healthcare design, I was quickly disheartened by the larger profession. It’s important to understand that interior designers are not solely focused on adorning spaces with finishes and decoration; rather, we holistically, thoughtfully, and responsibly create space. We weave together the technical with the aesthetic. Our passion is to improve the quality of life and human experience, and ultimately we are responsible for the health and well being of all.
While much regarding our profession has changed for the better over the past 25 years—with advances in research demonstrating the impact of the environment on project outcomes—designers still struggle with misguided public perceptions that confuse decorating with design. Despite these challenges, universities are now offering exciting new education options that result in more technical knowledge and professional credibility.
Interior design education
My bachelor’s degree in interior design prepared me well for what I truly wanted to do: create interior space. Surprisingly, what I was taught in school didn’t exactly align with what interior designers were actually doing in my city at the time. I discovered that, to get the type of opportunities I wanted, a master’s degree in architecture was essential. Within five years of graduation, I went back to school.
In recent history, some interior design schools came to a consensus to create more education options for healthcare specialties by offering additional certificates and degrees. Two examples of such programs are Stephen F. Austin’s online Master’s in Healthcare Interior Design and New York School of Interior Design’s (NYSID) Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Healthcare. NYSID Healthcare MPS Program Director, Victor Dadras, notes that feedback from professionals and students were the impetus for the new healthcare graduate program and that, unlike architecture programs, this program connects research to design. Dadras point out that the multiple classes collaborate each semester with shared goals, such as improved patient outcomes and infection control. “When the MPS program in healthcare interior design was offered at NYSID, I couldn’t apply fast enough … I’m definitely learning on the job every day, but the education I received from the program gave me a great foundation,” says Cassandra Ramirez, NYSID MPS HC graduate.
It is my sincere hope that specialized education programs like these examples will open the door to more interior designers as healthcare planners, a role typically exclusive to architects. Why alienate the particularly valuable interiors skill set, and give up the title of interior designer in order to plan interior spaces for health? We do not want those specialized in interior spaces to choose a different career path, but rather, to celebrate the role of the interior designer as a professional specialist.
Interior design and public perception
Despite the advancements in education options for interior designers, we as interior designers still struggle with a professional identity. As a case in point, just a few months ago The Huffington Post featured a scathing article about how interior design is an industry focused on style and cabinet design, citing state regulations and education to be arbitrary (1) [Contract Editor in Chief JohnCzarnecki addressed this topic in his October 2014 editorial.] It’s an unfortunate public perception of interior designers. Just yesterday, I heard a real estate broker cast doubt to a client regarding a square footage calculation “because she’s an interior designer.” The information was in fact correct despite the misjudgment by the broker.
Another architectural blogger argues that his experience with interior designers is favorable, yet in the same article states, “This mindset supports a perception that many architects have—that interior designers (rag pickers, paper hangers) don’t create space, they decorate it.”(2) In my personal experience, this is not the case. Students in both colleges are taught to design based around a central idea, taking into consideration a complex series of factors surrounding the project. A colleague, who is more than ten years my junior, had a similar experience when her healthcare interior design class toured a New York architecture firm. The architect tour guide actually stated that other architects often call interior designers “swatch makers.” Like me, my colleague felt compelled to pursue a master’s degree in architecture.
Stereotypes for interior designers from “HGTV,” “Will & Grace” and “Designing Women” are not even close to the professional identity we want to portray. Inasmuch, public misjudgment does not come as a surprise. Perhaps, as a profession, we should take note of the approach of the American Institute of Architects: In 2000 a national ad campaign was launched to improve the public’s poor stereotypes of architects. (3) Why not spend some of our professional organizations’ dues to take our message to the public? Future interior designers deserve a clear public identity.
The benefits
As the old saying goes, “Two heads are better than one.” With complex healthcare projects, large design teams with engineers, consultants, and equally large client teams are required. Project leaders can be our strongest advocates or obstacles when it comes to everyone on the team participating as equals. The team determines the potential of a design’s greatness, and how responsive and sensitive it is to the needs of the patients and caregivers. Clients and consulting teams need to support and include more interior design skills for healthcare by advocating for a more inclusive culture where listening to other people and other ideas is the norm, and where great design is valued over doing things as they have always been done. Interior designers: Position yourself in the design team and embrace the responsibility as an expert, armed with the required technical know-how. Have the knowledge, courage, and passion to ask the questions and challenge the status quo within the spirit of great design. I am fortunate to work in a positive environment, with an inclusive firm. Still, as interior designers, we need to work to clarify who we are to the public and advocate for inclusion among design professionals.
Environmental design truly has psychological and behavioral impacts, and there is no place more important for great design than the stressful, life-in-balance world of healthcare. The friendships with nurses and physicians and the thank you notes from the parents make healthcare interior design an incredibly rewarding profession.
Sources
1. Gowans, Hilary (2014, September) Arbitrary Interior Design Regulations Hurt Entrepreneurs, Consumers. Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hilarygowins/ arbitraryinteriordesign_b_5830782.html?utm_hp_ref=business&ir=Business
2. Borson, Bob (2010, May) Can’t we all just get along. Retrieved from: http://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/cant-we-all-just-get-along/
3. American Institute of Architects (1998, May) AIA Delegates Vote to Support Multimedia Ad Campaign. Retrieved from: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aia-delegates-vote-tosupportmultimedia- ad-campaign-77916642.html
4. Design Intelligence (2014, November) America’s Best Interior Design Schools 2015. Retrieved from: http://www.di.net/articles/americas-best-interior-design-schools-2015/