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Successful Healthcare Art Programs
Quite simply, a healthcare art program consists of a series of elements placed in public and private spaces throughout the facility. The selection of these elements as well as their size and placement is crucial to the success of the program.
When image selections are based on the viewer, successful, appropriate art programs result. Distinctive Art Source begins the selection process by learning about the people who make up the facility’s staff, visitor and patient populations. This information is combined with the Owner’s mission and the Architects’ and Designers’ vision of the project. At Distinctive Art Source we are interested in continuing design direction through the art program.
Facility history and image along with locale are additional issues to consider when selecting art. Portraying a facility’s unique history through imagery can establish immediate visual ties to the past in a new replacement facility. A community medical center may choose to project a local image while a rural facility may choose not to reinforce their location, but rather create ties to the city that remind patients they are receiving top level care. Knowing the geography of an area surrounding a facility, as well as the types of recreation patients might participate in, is helpful when selecting art. Images of familiar landscapes and pastimes are subtle reminders that patients are close to home and are being cared for by those who know them well. If however, visitors travel far and wide to reach a facility, images of the entire country, or even the world, may be appropriate.
Viewing time should also be considered when selecting images. The longer a viewer is exposed to an image, the more distant the horizon line should be. Distant horizon lines, allow viewers to “enter” or “escape” into the image while foreground details offer additional interest. To momentarily experience art’s healing quality, image yourself in a hospital waiting room shortly after spending a wonderful weekend at a relaxing lake. On the wall is an image of a similar lake scene. Boats in the distance, water lapping on the shore in the foreground, and sunny skies divert your thoughts to a more relaxed time, thus helping you to relax.
Image scale, color palette and viewing distance play important roles in image placement. Viewing distance helps determine necessary image scale and clarity. Bold colors and clear lines provide image clarity from a distance allowing images placed at one end of a corridor to be viewed from the other end of the corridor.
The strategic combination of art mediums, artistic styles and placement creates a gradual art progression throughout a facility. Different types of art or imagery in different areas can provide visual variety as well as unit identity. Images located for optimum viewer benefit enhance spatial experiences. Well placed art can also benefit wayfinding.
Today’s educated consumer demands not only excellent healthcare but also excellent environments. Successful healthcare art programs contribute to excellent environments. |
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When selecting images for healthcare art programs it is critical to understand who the patients / viewers are, as well as the mission and goals of the facility. Patient based art programs can be created by combining multi layers of information, including facility demographics, topography, and design as well as patient populations, stress levels, and viewing time.
Existing and future hospital demographics begin to create a facility unique patient profile while local topography helps define appropriate landscape images. Architectural and design elements also help define appropriate image style.
Understanding patient ethnicity, as well as educational, and economic back ground information, helps further define appropriate image subject matter unique to each facility. Patient Populations are a determining factor in image selection. Each population has its own unique needs, concerns and fears to be addressed. In patient based art programs these needs, combined with viewing time and stress levels help determine image selection and location. Images viewed in high stress areas for extended amounts of time (ER Waiting) will differ greatly from those used to identify areas or specifically aid in wayfinding.
Patient based art programs offer facilities an opportunity to help reduce some of the stress found in healthcare environments. Two prominent stressors deal with physical discomfort and wayfinding. Appropriately selected images can offer patients positive distractions that may, for a short time, take their mind off their own physical discomfort. Wayfinding may be aided through the selection of memorable, identifying images located at unit arrival points or corridor decision points. |
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Image Selection |
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Patient Based Art Programs |
