PAYETTE Landscape Architect Adam Anderson spoke with the American Society of Landscape Architecture (ASLA) blog The Field, expanding on a recent presentation at the Healthcare and Therapeutic Design Professional Practice Network describing how our firm embeds nature in our healthcare projects to improve the healing process.
I think we’ve always known it, but we now have the data that shows how effective exposure to natural elements can be for the healing process. Also, personally, hospitals cause me anxiety, so I like the idea of making them easier to navigate. Crafting a space that directly connects someone to an increased ameliorative process is a nice thought, and landscape design is uniquely able to do so.
Adam Anderson
In the article, Adam describes some of his current projects which all have a common thread of embedding healing landscapes into the design of the project.
Currently in construction, the Fifth XiangYa Hospital will provide a new world class model for the delivery of healthcare in China, accommodating over 100,000 patients a day and housing over 2,500 patient rooms. The hospital is planted in the topography of the site, facing Xianguling Park and the surrounding mountains. Nature is further embedded into the superstructure through gardens, courtyards, roof terraces, light monitors and generous windows that provide abundant natural light and frame views of the natural setting surrounding the building.
The Hengqin Hospital will be the main provider of healthcare for a new city being developed on an island adjacent to the city of Zhuhai. It will be the signature anchor of a comprehensive medical campus, which will include of a series of specialty hospitals, developed and designed separately. The densely packed building makes room for a large central garden, the Green Heart, shared between the main hospital and the specialty hospitals. Seamlessly integrated into the life of the hospital, it nurtures the wellbeing of patients, family, visitors and staff.
At Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the new Inpatient Building incorporates the expansion of hospital departments in the adjacent Rosenberg Building. An expansive roof garden, raised 75’ above Pilgrim Road between the existing Rosenberg Building and the inpatient floors of the bed tower looks out to Frederick Law Olmsted’s famed Emerald Necklace of parks and greenways.
Learn more about Adam’s design philosophies and professional background in The Field article.
The 2025 OpenLAB Boston studio work will be exhibited at Virginia Tech Monday, March 2nd through Wednesday, March 4th.
Please join us for the following events on Monday, March 2nd:
11:00am - Lecture with Parke MacDowell
1:00pm Lobby talk with Kevin Sullivan
This year’s studio identifies seven sites along the frayed edges of Boston’s Greenway. The Greenway is a one-mile-long linear park running through the heart of the city, reconnecting downtown Boston with its waterfront. Many of the parcels along its edges remain undeveloped and present mute, blank facades to the public realm. Addressing and repairing these edges through acts of infilling, layering, grafting, framing, and placemaking is the core focus of the studio—SUTURE.