SEEDoc: Nyanza Maternity Hospital / MASS Design Group
Since June, we’ve been reporting on the Design Corps and SEED (Social Economic Environmental Design)‘s, SEEDocs, a series of mini-documentaries that highlight the stories of award-winning public interest design projects. As each mini-doc has been an excellent, inspiring exploration of the challenges and benefits of community-oriented design, we are pleased (and not a little sad!) to announce that the final seed-doc has just been released.
This month’s mini-doc, probably the series’ best, focuses on the Nyanza Maternity Hospital, designed by MASS Design Group. MASS of course garnered much attention for their Butaro Hospital, also in Rwanda (for an interesting inside-look at the construction of Butaro, read this excellent article by MASS co-founder Marika Shiori-Clark). Should this hospital be funded and realized, it will no doubt make more headlines for the innovative public-interest design firm.
Read more about MASS Design Group’s lastest project in Rwanda, after the break…
Michael Graves on Hospital Room Design
Architect Michael Graves, recipient of the 2012 Richard H. Driehaus Prize, recently gave a talk at TEDMED 2011 about his experience with a debilitating illness and his inspiration for designing improved healthcare designs that are much more suitable for individuals with limited mobility. His observations illustrated the need for a much more sensitive approach, “they didn’t make big mistakes…they just made the most frustrating mistakes you could ever imagine and made your cure more difficult. Your room should make it easier for the doctors and the aides and the patient. But instead it does just the opposite.” Armed with sketches of improved designs for furniture, rooms, and buildings, Graves collaborated with hospital furnishing company Stryker to release improved products for hospital rooms. Check out an introduction to his talk in the video above.
