Michael Murphy, executive director and co-founder of MASS Design Group, was given The Center for Health Design's 2013 Changemaker Award at the recent Healthcare Design Conference.
Deeply involved in reshaping the way healthcare is delivered in developing countries by bringing architecture into the equation, Murphy shared with attendees the journey that brought him to this day, according to an article on the Healthcare Design website.
When Murphy was 24 years old, his father was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given just three weeks to live. Murphy returned to his family's home in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., to essentially be on "death watch." As he waited, Murphy began picking up pet projects around the old Arts and Crafts home that his father had been working on for years. Murphy's dad returned home and joined Murphy on the project, the two moving from exterior to interior. Soon three weeks became became 1.5 years. The house was almost finished, and Murphy's father was free of cancer.
"It was incredibly profound. Every day, working in our built environment can help us heal ourselves," he said in the article. "There is an incredible relation between our environments and our health."
With that one experience, Murphy changed course, deciding to return to school to study architecture, according to the article. He met Paul Farmer of Partners in Health, who during a lecture on healthcare and buildings asked a pivotal question: "If you don't have a good enough home, how can you possibly get better?"
Read the article and see the image gallery.
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