The Center for Health Facilities Design and Testing is one of the 55 South Carolina Centers of Economic Excellence (SC CoEE). This Center, based out of Clemson University’s School of Architecture, is a multidisciplinary network of researchers, practitioners and industry experts that conduct design research to improve outcomes in healthcare environments through better architecture and building design. Researchers at this Center study the relationship between the physical healthcare environments and clinical outcomes; population health outcomes; patient, family and staff satisfaction; operational efficiency; and the ability to accommodate change. The Center works with Clemson's Architecture + Health program.
The Center is focused on integrating health and design research into design practice and education to make informed decisions about building design such that it results in improved health outcomes. The research is focused on 'tissue samples' of the most significant healthcare settings where significant patient care and treatment is delivered and where settings are built repeatedly in healthcare facilities and systems.
With a commitment to excellence and innovation, the Center for Health Facilities Design and Testing at Clemson University is working to develop advanced design solutions that improve health, safety, and healthcare outcomes. The Center's work is multidisciplinary and projects often include architects, researchers, human factors engineers and clinicians on the team. We focus on high-risk, high-impact clinical areas such as the operating room, the patient room and the intensive care unit. The projects typically follow an iterative cycle of problem analysis, design and development, implementation and testing. The goal is to develop human-centered built environment solutions using a systems framework that includes the built environment, the people in healthcare, an understanding of processes and tasks involved and interactions with technology. The Center uses physical and virtual simulations and mock-ups as a way to develop and test design ideas as well as to build a body of research in the field of evidence-based healthcare design. The Center works with Clemson's Architecture + Health program.