How many people does it take to design a hospital?

Well usually lots and lots and lots and lots…but for Kaiser Permanente, the US of A’s largest not-for-profit health care system, apparently that’s not enough.

Usually when one builds a hospital (you know, like on a quiet Sunday afternoon), there are teams upon teams of people involved – architects, engineers, designers, more engineers, the people who’ll be running the hospital, a couple of more architects and, of course, the engineers.

But with the world on the cusp of yet another technological breakthrough, KP, a hospital system that’s been on the leading edge of greening healthcare (if I may add) wanted to open up the design process to the world to capture some of the innovation that’s happening. 

Which is why they’ve launched their “Small Hospital, Big Idea” competition looking for “design concepts for a small, eco-conscious, patient- and family-friendly hospital that uses the best in emerging medical technology to coordinate and deliver care”.  And while the hospital KP’s looking for might be small, the stakes are high, with prizes of up to $750,000 for finalists.

So for everyone out there who’s had a big idea on how to do things better – now’s your chance to help build a small hospital.

Read more on the contest, and enter, with this California Healthline Article and Kaiser’s Press release.

Happy designin’ for the future,

-ed