Is Evidence-Based Design Totally New?

If you asked the 6th BCE Greeks of Epidaurus, they might take you to one of the most celebrated healing centers of the classical world—the Asclepieion hospital. In their hospital, patient rooms faced eastward. Why? It is believed the rooms were intuitively designed and placed toward the sun to promote healing.

Many centuries later, many movements from different countries came together in the 1970s to create a new field called evidence-based design.

Who are the people whose forces created this new discipline? Doctors, Scientists, Architects, Interior Designers, Psychologists, Sociologists, Anthropologists, and many others.

The Healing Window by Dorothea Sandra, EDAC, 36”x48”

This artist’s journey into Evidence-Based Design

Photo from the back of McLaren Northern Hospital, Petoskey, Michigan

I am known by many titles in the art world: Artist Of Happiness; a modernizer of traditional woodland compositions; a Great Lakes artist; a 21st-century experimental artist; creator of the evidence-based design collection, Symphonies Of Love; creator of the Smart City Art Collection; and more.

At the beginning of my evidence-based design artistic journey, I chose to create a painting depicting a view from a hospital room. The background of The Healing Window features Little Traverse Bay, as seen from the back parking lot of McLaren Northern Hospital in Petoskey, Michigan.

While composing this painting, I imagined myself in one of the patient rooms at McLaren Northern, looking out the window.

I also imagined myself in a patient room or in a healthcare lobby or a waiting area.

Artists always have lots of choices to make. Early in my evidence-based design floral art career, I chose creating happiness (triggering dopamine) over painting realism. My reason? I figured I would have more power to create happiness if I had more artistic power of the flowers. Not only did realism limit my ability to create happiness (dopamine), but according to medical and scientific research, traditional still-life wasn’t an art category most favored within evidence-based design.

So, is evidence-based design totally new? Yes and no. The flowers in this artwork are modern, cheerful, uplifting, and based on current evidence-based design best practices. However, I also wanted to pay homage to the accomplishments of those who came before us by incorporating elements that, especially in the design texture of the vases, evoke a rough, ancient Greek Asclepieion aesthetic.

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