Vietnam
Our Vietnam project is a physician’s dream that will hopefully one day be realized. Our client in Vietnam, a local physician there, has operated a number of clinics in the country for years. His dream is to be able to offer more modern healthcare by constructing a hospital in Vietnam. Currently, most inpatient care is provided in hospitals in neighboring countries like Thailand.
Our drawings represent the translation of the standards of healthcare we’ve provided in numerous critical access hospitals, like Bailey Medical Center in Owasso, Oklahoma, the facility our client had seen in a magazine and wanted to emulate. Finding ways to adapt tried and true healthcare design standards to the mores of a vastly different culture created interesting opportunities, like accommodating the need for families to dine with patients in their rooms.
Sculptors see possibilities in blocks of granite or clay. Photographers frame landscapes through their outstretched hands. Seeing the unseen is something we do every day, too.
Read MoreThere were many typical American spaces the client wanted to incorporate into the plans, but one that they didn't want was bathrooms "the size of a Vietnamese living room." We learned much about local culture: boating on the Mekong River, seeing "real" Ho Chi Minh tunnels, and gaining a new perspective on the Vietnam War museum and history.