Design Details for Health: Making the Most of Interior Design's Healing Potential

How long does a book remain useful after it is published? Most books, especially reference books don't last. "Design Details for Health" seems fresh even thought it has been a decade since it first came out. As Wayne Ruga said: ". . . this book is a reference standard with timeless value." Granted, nowhere in the book will you see the term "Evidence-based Design" used, because that phrase was not in widespread use a decade ago. But the book is packed with useful ideas that would be of real value to Interior Designers working on HealthCare projects. In 300 pages Ms. Leibrock covers the entire field of Healthcare in depth. Long-term care, Subacture Care, Ambulatory Care and Inpatient Hospitals each gets a section with several chapters. The writing is clear and very practical. Frequent references to "real world" projects are given with pictures and floor plans. Summary: * Great Comprehensive Reference Book for Interior Designers working in HealthCare Pros: * Practical advice that is easy to access. * A well constructed book with high quality paper. Cons * Very little about the use of Art in Healthcare * Lots of floor plans and useful photographs, but only a few are in color. Ms. Leibrock is the principal/founder of EASY ACCESS TO HEALTH (www.AgingBeautifully.org) in Ft. Collins, Colorado, a firm that offers consulting services in patient centered design, planning for independent living. She was selected as a Changemaker in 2002 by the Center for Health Design.

I am a professional Health Care interior designer who is always looking for resources to enhance my knowledge base for creating healing enviornments in the health care market. A few years ago I attended, along with about 300 other designers, a presentation by a nationally known health care designer. At the end of the 1.5 hr. lecture, there were six of us left. The focus of the talk was entirely philosophical: there were no gems of knowledge or tools we could take back to our design practices to make our projects better. Ms. Leibrock certainly doesn't have to worry about anyone leaving her presentation. The book has been delegated to my reference shelf and I am sure will become dog-earred. The specific types of healing environments included in the book range from birthing centers to long-term care facilities and all that is in-between. The philosophical issues are presented and then followed by research findings and case studies which support those concepts. Then the GEMS! Lists and lists and lists of hands-on guidelines which are distilled from the vast experience and research of the author.