By Elaina Myers, Assistant Editor

Key Takeaways:

• Healthcare master planning should evaluate every project in the context of the full campus, protecting future flexibility and preventing short-term construction decisions from limiting long-term growth.
• Journey mapping and route-overlay techniques such as plaid diagramming can reveal confusing circulation patterns, helping facilities managers create clearer paths, recognizable arrival points and intuitive wayfinding.
• Transitional spaces—including corridors, lobbies, courtyards and rest niches—should be intentionally planned as orientation and respite areas that reduce stress for patients, visitors and staff while strengthening the overall campus experience.

Healthcare campus planning is about more than determining where the next building or addition should go. It is an opportunity to shape how an entire campus functions and how it feels to move through it. As healthcare systems become increasingly constrained by space, decisions made today can influence the flexibility and efficiency of a campus for decades.  

“Think of it like a chessboard,” says Andre Kamili, ALA, LEED, principal at Shepley Bulfinch. “A major medical campus sits on a tight site with a limited number of squares. Every building occupies some of them, and a decision made for the convenience of the next move can leave an institution in checkmate three moves later. Sound planning keeps several moves in view at once. 

“The same thinking applies at any size or scale. For instance, a radiology department renovation is planned around the whole floor it sits on, even when the department itself is the only piece changing. Scale that up, and it becomes a campus master plan. In this case, a building project asks where the building goes, while a master plan asks what it makes possible and what it rules out." 

A master plan considers not only future buildings and programs, but also the spaces connecting them, including entrances, corridors, outdoor areas and transitional spaces. These are often the places people pause and regain a sense of control amid an unfamiliar environment.  

Designing for the journey 

Healthcare facilities managers can use journey mapping to understand how patients and staff move through a campus. The process should examine the full sequence of arrival, parking, entry, registration, circulation, waiting and departure rather than focusing only on individual departments.  

“We look at the campus as a continuous system of experience,” Kamili says. “The question is not only whether someone can get from point A to point B, but what happens along the way.” 

One practical technique is “plaid diagramming,” in which different routes are overlaid on a floor plan in their own color. Where routes cross, double back or become concentrated, planners can identify opportunities to simplify circulation.  

“Plaid diagramming shows how confusing and jumbled circulation is, which makes untangling it one of the first objectives of a plan,” Kamili says. “A major expansion is usually what prompts the work, since it brings both a reason and a budget to fix routes that have been a problem for years. Adding a new building to a campus that is already hard to navigate only makes it harder.” 

A master plan can also help facilities managers establish a clear hierarchy of movement. Primary routes should be direct and easy to recognize, while secondary paths can serve less frequent destinations. Consistent landmarks and clearly defined arrival points can reduce dependence on signs alone.  

“Part of the answer is geometric and part of it is intuitive,” Kamili says. “Art, natural light at the end of a corridor and color used to identify different areas give people something to navigate by.” 

Moments of respite 

Master plans tend to overlook the spaces that actually reduce stress, Kamili says. 

“Attention concentrates on revenue-generating areas such as beds, operating rooms and clinics, while the corridors and alcoves in between do much of the work of making a campus feel manageable,” he says. “Those spaces carry real value for the experience, which is reason enough to plan for them.” 

Facilities managers can identify these opportunities by auditing corridors, lobbies, courtyards, rooftops and other transitional areas. Rather than treating them as leftover space, the master plan can designate locations that provide moments of respite while also serving as orientation points.  

“At Boston Children’s Hospital, a green space master plan developed alongside the clinical plan found that the family amenity space sat well away from the main circulation, and in response, our team moved it closer to the paths people were already using,” Kamili says. "Clustering family space around elevators and other vertical circulation works on the same principle, putting rest and respite where people already pass through. 

Long corridors also benefit from a deliberate moment of pause.  

“At Yale New Haven Health’s Adams Neurosciences Center, niches were built into a corridor with benches and artwork, so an older patient or visitor has somewhere to rest along the way,” Kamili says. “Those niches double as landmarks. Even a piece of art tells a person where they are, which removes much of the anxiety of moving through an unfamiliar building." 

Long-term performance 

A master plan is most effective when it remains a working tool. 

 “A master plan refreshed every five years with a 10-year outlook keeps the document in working position, whether or not a major project is on the horizon,” Kamili says. “Institutions revisit their strategic plans on a regular cycle, and the campus deserves the same treatment.” 

This approach allows healthcare facilities leaders to evaluate individual projects against broader goals. It also helps prevent short-term construction decisions from undermining long-term campus performance.  

The result is a healthcare campus planned not simply as a collection of buildings, but as a connected environment. By considering orientation, movement, amenity spaces and opportunities for respite alongside future growth, facilities managers can create campuses that are more adaptable and open. 

Elaina Myers is the assistant editor of the facilities market. She has covered various topics from pest management to resilience to sustainability and covers all holidays and special days in the facilities field. She also manages the FacilitiesNet social media accounts.