INTERSECTION OF DESIGN & MEDICINE
THE DESIGN OF WEL
AUTHOR Ali Fa
L-B
rooqu
EIN
i, MD
“I
assume you know about Aruni’s
work?” Gill Holland asked as
we sat down to meet over coffee.
Despite being in the business of
mental health, I admitted that I
was regretfully unaware of the
groundbreaking National Insti-
tutes of Health funded research at the Uni-
versity of Louisville, headed by Aruni Bhatnagar, looking at the
impact of trees on public health. My response was further evidence
of something I already knew: that I had no idea how living spaces
and city planning impact mental health. I had asked to meet with
Holland to learn more about his perspective on the intersection of
mental well-being and design. Somewhat of a local expert on the
topic, Holland is co-developer of The Green Building, an innovative
space in NuLu that has revitalized a 120-year-old building. Holland
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LOUISVILLE MEDICINE
is a community builder, filmmaker and entrepreneur whose diverse
background allows him to make intentional, calculated designs in
urban planning. After chatting with him, I found there is much
more than meets the eye when considering how city design impacts
patient care and community well-being.
Reponses to mental health care can at times be frustratingly
variable, but I had never considered how architecture and design
fit into the framework of our health system. The impression of
my laymen friends is that the health care sector is dominated by
authoritarian architecture and imposing facades, yet we expect our
patients to feel valued and safe.
I asked Holland how he felt his designs affected the mental health
of the buildings’ inhabitants. His process was organic, originating
from a desire to decrease our carbon footprint, while designing
multipurpose spaces that were pleasant on the eyes. Initially, he
wanted to build buildings that in his own words “looked cool” but