Students:
Meiting - Avy Chan
Lauren M. Deck
Justin Eakes
Derek [DJ] Gregory
Matthew Hutcherson
Ting-Ray Chang
Hannah Fiechtner
Jana L. Silverman
Kiki Chandler
Natalie V. Bonebrake
Lauren N. Daly

Professors:
Richard Branham
Kent Spreckelmeyer

External Support:
Frank Zilm
KU Med Center
North Kansas City Hospital

Design for wellness: An effective interactive prototyping tool for health care research

A multi-disciplinary team from The University of Kansas, representing the Design for Wellness Program, acknowledged that the architecture and spatial arrangement of Emergency Exam Rooms needed revision.The team consisted of students and faculty from the School of Fine Arts and the School of Architecture and Urban Design. Through funding from Frank Zilm and Associates, Inc., and the participation of local hospitals, the team was able to design and test a
modular Emergency Exam Room.

The dimensions of the room and the placement of its contents are all adjustable, creating an environment doctors and nurses could feel comfortable interacting with. The room is constructed out of light-weight materials. Wall segments can be added and subtracted in two- foot segments, altering the room’s overall dimensions. Within the room, a grid of Velcro allows foamcore representations of medical instruments to be easily repositioned along the wall.

By observing, conducting interviews, and running scenarios using this modular Emergency Exam Room, designers and architects can collect the data necessary to redesign an Emergency Exam Room based on that specific hospital’s culture.

Click here for the final document. (17mb PDF)