Healthcare Campuses

Nature is not only nice to have, but it’s a have-to-have for physical health and cognitive functioning.” —Richard Louv

In 2013, Kristy DeGuire — president of DG2 Design — understood Richard Louv’s statement from a whole new perspective when she found herself staring at the campus of an area hospital far more than she had ever imagined. And she wasn’t there to gain insight for a design project, either.

Kristy and her husband Jeremiah were happy to add to their family of three. They were doubly happy to learn they were expecting twins. But the pregnancy did not go as hoped. The twins were delivered very prematurely at 24 weeks. And at only two days old, it was discovered one of the twins had a brain bleed, adding more risk to his already delicate life.

Recovering from birth and seeking a place that might help her mother’s heart to loosen from its grip of worry, Kristy visited the hospital’s outdoor areas frequently over the next five months as her twins grew and developed and recovered in the neonatal intensive care unit. Going outside was a reprieve from the sterile environment of the hospital halls.

That experience has indelibly influenced her approach to landscape architecture.

Hospitals, Medical Office Buildings, and Centers for Healing

Healing gardens, healing plazas, children’s gardens, therapeutic gardens — each serves to invite individuals in need of healing to reconnect with nature. Living and breathing in a sterile environment is often necessary for survival, but a reprieve from sterility can have a curative effect of its own. 

Healing gardens offer more than a simple change of scenery for retirement community residents, long-term care residents, senior living residents, and hospital patients. Spending even as little as 20 minutes a day outside has been shown to improve health and overall well-being.

With DG2 Design, you can create an outdoor haven that is inviting and designed to meet the needs of everyone in need of healing.