Photo: The team used Lean design methodologies to map the movement of both patients and staff through the facility, identifying key milestones such as check-in, imaging, consultation and waiting. | Photo Credit (all): Kris Decker, Firewater Photography
By Sara Robinson, AIA, ACHA, EDAC
When Sara Robinson, AIA, ACHA, EDAC, senior associate in the Healthcare Studio of McMillan Pazdan Smith, was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer in 2022, her commitment to designing with empathy became personal. Navigating a variety of healthcare environments and undergoing diagnostic mammography, multiple CTs and MRIs, two biopsies, robotic surgery and radiation therapy allowed Robinson to encounter as a patient many spaces she had previously designed or evaluated. The experience allowed her to appreciate how small details can impact a patient’s sense of comfort, control and dignity.
When Robinson’s team at McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture began designing Novant Health’s Agnes Binder Weisiger Breast Health Center in Charlotte, N.C., she brought both my professional and personal perspectives to the table.
In Part I of this article, Robinson shares the team’s process of bridging clinical excellence with compassion and maintaining a patient-first mindset. In Part II, Robinson speaks to the importance of aesthetics and offers tips on designing for dignity.
Seeing the Gaps – And Closing Them
Through my own treatment journey, I began noticing all the things that typically are overlooked in healthcare design, such as how exposed a patient might feel walking down a hallway in a gown or how disorienting it is to navigate an imaging center for the first time.
Throughout this project, our team wanted to address those pain points in ways both subtle and significant. One example was taking further inspiration from spa and experiential design by minimizing patients’ exposure to intimidating medical equipment. While items like sharps containers, soiled linen hampers and supply dispensers are essential for care delivery, they can also contribute to a clinical or anxiety-inducing atmosphere.
To reduce that effect, we thoughtfully designed millwork and wall systems to conceal these items from view, allowing patients to focus on the calming elements of the room rather than the tools of treatment. These concealments were achieved without compromising staff efficiency or accessibility.
We also paid close attention to transitional spaces, especially the changing rooms, where patients often experience the most emotionally vulnerable moments of their care journey. Patients are worried, processing the possibility that their body may be betraying them, and they’re being asked to undress. We spent hours refining every detail of these spaces to support dignity and reduce stress. That included using warm, flattering lighting to support comfort when undressed; replacing mirrors with decorative wall features to avoid forcing unwanted self-reflection; and incorporating solid doors for full privacy, with overhead transoms that bring in borrowed natural light to prevent feelings of claustrophobia.
These kinds of small design decisions may not be immediately obvious, but they have a real emotional impact. As both a designer and a patient, I’ve learned that even the smallest details can help someone feel more at ease, more empowered and more human in the midst of a medical experience.
Putting People at the Heart of Healthcare Design
This project represents a powerful convergence of purpose and personal experience for me. It’s not just a building I helped design; it’s the kind of space I would have wanted during my own care journey.
It’s also a testament to what’s possible when architects, healthcare providers and patients co-create environments that heal in every sense of the word. As we look to the future of healthcare design, I believe we must keep pushing beyond efficiency and aesthetics. We have a responsibility to design spaces that meet patients where they are.
For those designing healthcare environments, I encourage you to keep the following principles in mind:
- Start with empathy, not just efficiency. Ask how each space feels during a patient’s most vulnerable moments.
- Design transitions intentionally. Areas like changing rooms, corridors and bathrooms should feel safe and supportive, not like an afterthought.
- Engage people with patient experience early. Their perspectives often reveal insights that clinical workflows alone can’t uncover.
- Give patients choices. Whether it’s where to wait or how much privacy to have, autonomy is a powerful part of healing.
- Don’t underestimate the “small” things. Lighting, acoustics, materiality and layout nuances all shape the emotional impact of a space.
When design is grounded in empathy, it becomes more than a solution to a problem—it becomes a source of comfort. It can restore dignity, foster resilience and help people feel seen and cared for, even in their most difficult moments.
Sara Robinson, AIA, ACHA, EDAC, is a senior associate in the Healthcare Studio of McMillan Pazdan Smith, a regional, studio-based design firm with offices in Charleston, Greenville and Spartanburg, South Carolina; Asheville and Charlotte, North Carolina; and Atlanta, Georgia. Contact her at srobinson@mcmillanpazdansmith.com.
