There’s been lots of chatter lately about the blurring lines between healthcare design and hospitality design, according to a blog by healthcare design expert Sara Marberry psoetd on her website, But she doesn’t think the lines are really blurring.
"Hospitals aren’t hotels and never have been, nor never will be," Marberry wrote. "The reasons patients stay overnight in hospitals are not the same reasons guests stay overnight in hotels."
"While it’s good that many providers are using design and amenities to make the patient experience better, I don’t know a single healthcare designer who thinks he or she is doing hospitality design when working on a hospital project. And, as far as I can tell, hospitality designers aren’t designing hospitals."
The future of healthcare is actually retail, Marberry said. New hospitals being built today have many retail features. Toronto's Bridgepoint Hospital has a Tim Hortons coffee, Shoppers Drug Mart, library, and access to two outdoor terraces.
Read the blog.
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