by Brianna Crandall — May 27, 2013—MASS Design Group from Boston, Massachusetts, founded to address the need for good design to improve public health, has been named as the 2013 Changemaker Award winner. The award, given annually by The Center for Health Design, honors individuals or organizations that have demonstrated exceptional ability to change the way healthcare facilities are designed and built, and whose work has broad impact on the advancement of healthcare design.
Founded by Michael Murphy and Alan Ricks, MASS Design Group’s mantra, “buildings are never neutral; they either hurt or they heal,” epitomizes the pioneering efforts that create the paths to innovative future healthcare design. The group works from the premise that the built environment has the power to better lives, build communities and heal individuals.
MASS Design Group reportedly designs holistically: immersing themselves in the community, designing from the user’s point of view, leveraging the local economy in the construction process, and using evidence-based design as a pathway to improve the delivery of public health in devastated environments. But they do not simply create healthcare facilities that improve outcomes and drive social change; they also use education as a tool to build the future.
With current projects underway in more than a half dozen locations including Rwanda and Haiti, MASS Design Group has taught masonry, lead workshops to develop local skills in sustainable and safer seismic design, and developed the first architectural curriculum at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology in Rwanda.
“We like to say that we are building a movement. From developing architectural curriculums to rethinking global standards, we recognize that passing on knowledge and research is critical to systemic change and embedding long-term local capacity”, stated Michael Murphy. “We start every project with immersive research, designing from the user first to ensure high-impact designs that directly amplify our partners’ missions. Ultimately, we seek to change the practice, change the purpose, and change the expectations of buildings to change our world. I am honored that we have been named as the 2013 Changemaker and joining such an illustrious list of industry leaders.”
Murphy will officially accept the Changemaker Award at the 2013 HEALTHCARE DESIGN Conference , in Orlando, Florida, where he will share more about the group’s work in one of the three plenary sessions.
