This post is in a series where we talk to healthcare interior designers about their work in the healthcare market.
Andrea Kingsbury is an Interior Design Team Lead at FreemanWhite.
What is one book, person, or talk that has been most influential in your career?
Early in my healthcare design career I had the opportunity to renovate a transitional care hospital where my grandmother had recovered from knee replacement surgery a few years before. When I spoke with her about this opportunity, she told me how her negative experience with the physical environment largely impacted her mental state and thus her ability to heal. Once the renovation of the building was complete, she was able to see how the new design positively affected space. She then told me that she was not only proud of what I was able to contribute, but knew that my efforts would change how people healed in that environment. I’ve carried this moment with me through my career as a reminder that what we do as healthcare designers has real meaning and impact to those who inhabit these spaces.
What products have you been excited about recently?
In healthcare environments, we have the special challenge of designing intense use spaces that must be highly durable, while still being aesthetically pleasing. Advancements in wall protection materials that can be digitally printed or offer visuals reminiscent of wallcoverings and wood paneling offer healthcare designers more flexibility in creating spaces that will perform in high-use areas without looking institutional. Also recent releases of heavy-duty, impact resistant fiberglass wall panels offer consistency when shifting from areas of lighter use to those of heavier traffic. This allows designers to seamlessly transition from typical high-pressure laminates in one area to more durable fiberglass panels in another, while maintaining the same visual.
Do you have any go-to design solutions or techniques for creating healing environments?
I can’t stress enough the importance of daylight. While studies have repeatedly shown the positive effects of daylight on behaviors, mental states, and one’s ability to heal, access to daylight is often sacrificed in order to solve tight operational programs. Since returning back to the office after a few months of working at home in 2020, I have found myself gravitating to areas in the studio with daylight in order to ‘think clearly’. This behavior has reinforced to me the importance of maintaining access to daylight and maximizing borrowed light where possible in interior spaces.
If you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?
Let it go. As a young designer I constantly worried about every step I made, comment I received, or mistake that occurred. I still have to remind myself not to overthink things or assume the worst, and that mistakes do happen. But it’s what we learn from those experiences that makes us better designers and team members.
What is one product that doesn't exist but should?
My unicorn product that has yet to be invented is flooring that is incredibly durable, aesthetically pleasing, easy to install, quiet under-foot, low-maintenance, and at a cost-effective price point. Flooring is the most difficult product to specify as most options will rank high in one area, but will score low in another and is the only surface that is guaranteed to come into contact with users.
We've also talked to Shelby Frye (Pulse Design Group), Elisha Lorenzi (EML Interiors), Sarah Tetens (Baskervill), Becky Trybus (Forum Architecture & Interior Design), Kari Allen (Guidon Design), Crystal McCauley (CallisonRTKL), Jennifer Bahan (Hoefer Wysocki), Char Hawkins (DesignGroup), Pete Agnew (Perkins Eastman), Deirdre Pio (Gawron Turgeon Architects), Jessica Whitlock (RS&H), Amber Williams (KDA Architecture), Jenny Manansala (Stantec), and more.
