Design x Technology Lecture: Bonny Slater

Enjoy this lecture on campus or online.

Sustainability in healthcare design typically revolves around optimizing traditional buildings within established health systems. But what if we embraced a broader perspective, considering sustainability at the system level? Imagine if we redesigned service delivery and infrastructure to not only combat climate change but also to improve community health outcomes. Could such innovations also address the industry's financial, staffing, and equity challenges?

This session will explore the two-year research and design effort by the Gensler Research Institute around the Future of Healthcare. The outcome was a thought-provoking proposal: an integrated ecosystem that reimagines the distribution of healthcare, social services, and community support. The vision aims to conserve valuable resources—both financial and environmental—while simultaneously enriching the human experiences, advancing health equity, and leveraging cutting-edge advancements in science and technology. This session will explore:

•The importance of environmental health in improving social determinants of health.

•Technology’s role in the reduction of carbon emissions.

•Cooperative competition fostering alliances that combine resources for mutual gain.

•Mass timber in hospital construction.

The session will review the ecosystem’s components and impacts, which includes a redistribution of care into the home, community health hubs, advanced ambulatory care centers, and a critical-care community hospital, followed by a deep dive into the carbon-neutral design strategies for a community hospital of the future.

Learning Objectives:

1. Analyze the potential impacts of redesigning service delivery and infrastructure in healthcare to address climate change and improve community health outcomes.

2. Evaluate the hypothesis that a focus on improving community health can positively impact various industry challenges such as climate, financial, staffing, and equity issues.

3. Explore key areas of inquiry identified by the team, such as social determinants of health, shifting care settings, technological contributions to reducing healthcare's carbon emissions, and cooperative competition.

4. Assess the potential of sustainable design strategies, including reduced physical infrastructure, the use of mass timber construction, and the adoption of 100% electric design in healthcare facilities.

CEU: This lecture equals 1 professional architecture credit towards licensure requirements.

As part of CoAD's Design x Technology Lecture Series, this lecture is free and open to the public. Guests may watch online or on campus. Register for the location/viewing details. Your on-campus registration includes a pizza lunch.

About:

Bonny Slater is a Co-Global Healthcare Practice Leader and Design Director at Gensler. She has spent 20 years creating inspiring environments to support health and wellness for diverse populations. With a background in design and environmental psychology, she brings a unique perspective and research-driven approach to crafting meaningful experiences by supporting physical, cognitive, emotional, and spiritual needs.

Bonny’s Research has included the study of color in immersive environments, design considerations in behavioral health facilities, and the cultural implications of evidence-based design. Her recent work focuses on the connections between engagement, design, and population health in vulnerable communities. Her Research has been featured in Contract and Metropolis magazines and have garnered national recognition through ASID’s Outcome of Design Award and The Caritas Project’s Generative Space Award. An active Thought Leader, Bonny has presented her research at national conferences including Healthcare Design, Healthcare Facilities Symposium, and NeoCon, and is a frequent contributing writer to Gensler Dialogue and former editor of Contract’s “Designing for Health” online series.

As a Designer, Bonny’s work has included academic medical centers, community health centers, foreign hospitals, and prototype wellness facilities. Her work has been featured in Metropolis, Contract, Healthcare Design and Architectural Record. In addition to various project awards, in 2018 Bonny was honored as an ASID Ones to Watch Scholar and Design Excellence award recipient.

Event Venue

Lawrence Technological University, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, United States