Big little hospital: Design ideas to help your small spaces feel larger

The recent increases in construction costs can dampen anyone’s enthusiasm for building or remodeling. Fortunately, a new or remodeled hospital is still well within reach. Today’s veterinary floor plans are smaller, and they prioritize revenue per square foot.

Design is a powerful tool. With the right techniques, you can take a smaller space and create a big little hospital. A big little hospital may be small in footprint, but it feels light, bright, airy, supportive, effective, and easy to work in.

Minimize lobby elements

Kiosk-style desks

In the world of digital work, reception desks can be minimized. A client service team needs comfortable computer workstations, and these individual, kiosk-style stations fulfill that need by providing ergonomic seating, elbow room, and better acoustic separation. Kiosk-style desks, like the ones used by Livewell Animal Hospitals (Livewell), not only do everything in a smaller footprint, but also help the lobby space feel more open. In addition, customers are better separated and can have personal, more private, face-to-face communication with the staff, which helps foster a welcoming, client-centric experience.

Livewell Animal Hospital of RiNo (Image courtesy of Southern Veterinary Partners)

Declutter

Livewell lobbies are intentionally designed to minimize clutter. The hospital floor plan prioritizes exam room space, which allows the lobby to be smaller and less crowded. With fewer clients waiting, chairs can be larger and more comfortable. Livewell is also purposeful in choosing and placing artwork, for a clean and professional look.

Optimizing treatment spaces with the use of islands

The smallest hospitals may require treatment stations to be placed against walls. But, lining the walls with tub tables and exam tables is a limiting design, as this leaves room for little else. If possible, to eke out more space for treatment, the design can utilize an island layout. The island in the image below incorporates a treatment table and computer workstation on each side, medical gas drops, lighting, and storage, while maintaining visibility across the space. The wall behind is free for animal housing, patient monitors, and storage.

To prevent clutter in treatment, all items are hung from above whenever possible. Chairs are tucked under counters to keep the floor space free and clear.

Livewell Animal Hospital of Sloan Lake (Image courtesy of Southern Veterinary Partners)

Environmental design techniques for big little spaces

Transparency

Glass not only helps to provide visual connection and transparency between spaces in a hospital, it also enhances a small space design. Views to the outside, as shown in the Livewell treatment area above, help spaces feel bigger than they are. Natural light also helps create a sense of well-being and connection to the outdoors.

RELATED: Building a transparent veterinary practice-with glass, open spaces and values

In the image below, the office was designed with a Dutch door, to allow it to feel even more open and connected to the rest of the hospital when the doctor does not require privacy.

Raintree Animal Hospital (Image courtesy of Tim Murphy | Murphy Photo Imagery)

Transparency is important for monitoring patients to provide better care and support positive outcomes. In the small hospital intensive care unit ward in the image below, a window connects this space to the workstations on the other side of the wall. The ward itself feels bigger and more comfortable, given the window into the space from treatment, as well as the window from the outside. The outside window is not in view in this image, but light can be observed spilling into the dog run.

Lake Anna Veterinary Hospital (Image courtesy of Tim Murphy | Murphy Photo Imagery)

Good lighting and light color schemes

A big little hospital feels bigger because it is bright, with higher illumination levels, plenty of daylight (if possible, given a lease space or freestanding configuration), and a light color scheme.

Choosing lighter paints and materials helps reflect light from surface to surface and makes any space feel bigger. Clinical areas also typically want to use more light colors for a feeling of cleanliness. This overall approach does not preclude the occasional use of a bold-colored accent feature, such as on a wall behind the reception desk, to correspond with your branding or to add an element of style.

While keeping things light, avoid using bright white for heavily used surfaces such as treatment area walls, floors, and cabinetry. Veterinary spaces are used hard, and most veterinary practices do not have the cleaning budgets of human hospitals. Strike a balance with a color scheme that feels both practical, as well as light and cheerful.

Noise control

Noise problems can ruin the result of a big little hospital design. Incorporate noise reduction materials in every space, which means utilizing a highly sound reducing ceiling in each space except for surgery. We recommend hard ceilings in surgery for cleanliness.

While it is tempting in a small floor plan to have all patients in the open, designate some dog housing in a separated room, if possible, to reduce sound issues throughout the hospital, and reduce fear, anxiety, and stress for your feline patients.

In conclusion

In summary, the most important big little hospital design techniques are:

• Minimizing the space but increasing the quality of client reception areas.
• Designing highly efficient, multipurpose treatment spaces.
• Crafting the environment using transparency, bright lighting and light colors, and incorporating noise reduction and control.

We use these techniques repeatedly to get the most out of small spaces and to ensure these small spaces are still great places to work. Given the costs of construction, get the most out of your square footage with a smaller, more efficient, but still highly comfortable and uplifting design.