Natural light and nature-inspired color create an approachable patient check-in area.
A human-centric approach to design is perhaps no more important than when designing for healthcare. In these spaces, we experience some of the most profound moments of our lives, and support from healthcare providers, family, friends, as well as our surrounding environment can make a meaningful difference. 3form’s products allow designers to leverage design as a pillar of delivering high-quality care and harness the power of color, light, and imagery to create spaces that promote both healing and well-being for patients, visitors, and staff alike.
Laura Franzluebbers, Senior Interior Designer at HDR – a leading design firm specializing in engineering, architecture, environmental, and construction services – is an expert on human-centered design. With several years of experience designing exclusively for healthcare, she’s cultivated an innate sense for how humans use healthcare spaces and what will best serve them. “I focus on the complete picture of how people experience the hospital. How people live, work, and of course, receive care,” says Franzluebbers. “It’s about making their experience more enjoyable, despite being potentially the most stressful time of their lives.”
Repeating patterns of forests, tree rings, and leaves offer abstracted visions of nature.
3form has long understood that stress plays a critical role in the rate of healing and that biophilic design elements have the power to ameliorate anxiety for better patient outcomes. Whether it’s a nature-inspired color palette, an abundance of natural light, or patterns that are reminiscent of scenes in nature, these visual cues help to put our minds at ease so our bodies can heal. 3form’s most recent collection of nature-inspired graphic patterns offers an intersection of those three principles. Expressed as repeating patterns of forests, tree rings, and leaves, the scaleable motifs offer abstracted visions of nature that are available in soft, natural colors and can be applied to translucent panels of Varia or 3form Glass to allow natural light to pass through. When utilized to define and divide space in healthcare settings, the organic patterns provide the benefits of biophilia while the materials give the extreme durability and performance required for high-traffic medical spaces.
Nature-inspired warm tones in translucent Varia let natural light spill into this tranquil lounge space.
A fellow Senior Interior Designer at HDR, Jessica Doolittle, has spent over 25 years in healthcare design during which she has developed an expertise for incorporating natural elements into healthcare spaces with sophistication and subtlety. “I was happy to hear about abstractions in 3form’s new collection,” says Doolittle. “Biophilia doesn’t have to be literal translations of nature. The direction now is to do close-ups and abstracts which allude to nature.”
Earthy and natural tones of this biophilic color palette creates calm comfort.
Doolittle also recognizes color’s ability to influence inhabitants’ mood in a space. A current project she’s working on has certain restrictions but her selections of soft shell colors and oceanic blue gave her client the desired biophilic quality of calmness you would experience upon seeing coastal colors in nature. 3form’s 2022 Color Collection is of the same vein, featuring tranquil blues, mossy greens, and sandy golds which were inspired by the California coast. When applied to durable Varia, luminescent Chroma, and sleek glass, the collection brings the peacefulness and comfort of the outdoors to healthcare spaces.
Colored glass creates architectural interest with calming shades of blue in a lobby space.
Both Franzluebbers and Doolittle anticipate that healthcare design will continue to prioritize user experience more and more. Comfortable lounges and other amenities that allow people to take respite for a moment are becoming more prevalent. Textures and furniture styles previously reserved for hospitality and residential are now making their way into medical spaces so patients feel more at home. Additionally, color palettes that used to convey sterility are evolving to become more warm and inviting. There is a clear focus on designing spaces that serve to make visitors feel more comfortable and like they belong. 3form’s collections meet that demand and help designers prioritize patients’ emotional well-being so that they may have the best possible experience during a difficult time of their lives.
The post 3form’s Nature-Inspired Collections Help Put Patients At Ease first appeared on HCD Magazine.