“The complexity triggers the creativity”

Why were you interested in working with healthcare environments?

I’m a generalist and I’m heavily involved in the early stages of projects. I didn’t think twice when I had the opportunity to be involved in the competition for the Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. The design will affect everyone using the building – patients and staff alike – and I want to help elevate that environment. As an architect, I like working with unusual projects with strict requirements – I find these more fun and they help me to develop. I’ve learnt a lot in my work with Moorfields, such as in designing the unconventional atrium that enables people to interact and navigate their way through the hospital in new ways.

What’s the scope for creativity and exploration in a healthcare project?

A common misconception about healthcare architecture is that the design is only the sum of the technical and logistical requirements, that there’s no room for exploration and innovation because the projects are so complex. But I think this is the very trigger of creativity. There’s so much knowledge and experience within White, about everything from the individual elements of healthcare to more overarching issues, that you have to have an open mind and venture into the unknown.

What makes healthcare design interesting from an architect’s perspective?

Working with hospitals means working on an almost unique scale. It’s so exciting to create a human environment that exudes identity, security, and warmth in such huge buildings in a way that removes the feeling of a large machine that these sorts of environments usually have. A healthcare building must strike the right balance, where patients and staff have an environment that caters for their individual needs and where they feel comfortable.