2025 has been a year of urgency, reflection, and difficult questions for those of us working in healthcare and senior living design. From climate-driven disasters to mounting affordability challenges—and from debates about equity to deeper questions of meaning and mattering—I found myself returning again and again to the human consequences of the environments we create.
If you missed a few posts along the way, this roundup highlights some of my most impactful pieces from the year. Together, they capture the themes that continue to guide healthcare and senior living design: responsibility, resilience, dignity, and the belief that design has the power—and obligation—to make life better.
1. Designing for Climate Change: A Call to Action
“Climate change is no longer a distant threat. It’s here. It’s personal. And it’s devastating.” These words, written by mental health architect Anosha Zanjani, who lost her house in the LA fires, are part of a powerful, call-to-action piece on designing for climate change that she posted on LinkedIn titled, “Rising from the Ashes: How Architecture Must Adapt to a Burning World.” More>>>
2. We Must Keep Designing Healthcare Environments That Support Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Well, it’s been a frenetic few weeks since the current U.S. president took office. My head is spinning just keeping up with everything that’s been happening that is disrupting our government and world. When I consider the impacts to the healthcare industry, though, I’m concerned by the flurry of executive orders targeting the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. More>>>
3. Senior Living is Facing a Crisis of Capacity and Affordability
Did you know that by 2030, there will be a $300 billion shortfall in senior living construction in the U.S.? I heard that this past week at the Environments for Aging Conference + Expo (EFA) in Lexington, Ky. Despite rising demand, construction starts for senior housing remain below pre-pandemic levels. More>>>
4. The Connection Between Office Design & Healthcare Design
Attending NeoCon and Design Days last week in Chicago made me think again about the connection between office design and healthcare design. And it reminded me of when Michael Brill was asked to speak at the Fourth Symposium on Healthcare Design, which was held in Boston in November 1991. More>>>
5. What is Mattering and Why Does It Matter?
Do nurses feel like they truly matter at work? Not just that they show up and do their job, but that their efforts are noticed, appreciated, and celebrated by their colleagues and nurse leaders? That’s the question a colleague recently sent me from a commentary in the Journal of Advanced Nursing, introducing a concept I’d never quite heard put this way before: mattering. More>>>
6. From Patient Experience to Human Experience: What Really Matters in Healthcare Design
For several years, healthcare has been caught up in a debate: should we stop calling it the patient experience and start calling it the human experience? It’s a fair question. After all, we’re all human before we ever become patients. But does swapping the label change the reality? More>>>
10 Projects That Changed Healthcare Design
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll know that I love looking at the past to inform the future. That’s why I’m a fan of the “Hospital ICONs” series, which was founded by Don McKahan, Kirk Hamilton, and Frank Pitts in 2003. This thorough, thoughtful review of iconic hospital projects of the past has given us a lot to think about the evolution of healthcare design over the decades. More>>>
Together, these posts reflect the questions I believe will continue to shape healthcare and senior living in the years ahead: how we respond to climate change, how we protect equity and access, and how we design environments that truly support the people who live and work in them.
I look forward to continuing these conversations in the year ahead—and to exploring what thoughtful, human-centered design can make possible next.
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Photo: ID 335429031 | 2025 © Prazis | Dreamstime.com
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What’s my story? I’m a healthcare and senior living design knowledge expert who writes and speaks frequently about trends and issues affecting these two industries. I’m also a strategic marketing consultant and content creator, working with companies and organizations who want to improve the quality of healthcare and senior living through the design of the physical environment. You can reach me at [email protected].