Arjun Bhat began his career in landscape and architecture practice in San Francisco before returning home to St. Louis and joining CannonDesign. Here he quickly applied his talents in healthcare design–his initial venture into this sector was designing rooftop gardens for healthcare facilities – often used to keep patients waiting or staff relaxed during long procedures or take a breather from work. Bhat was soon exploring designing for various emotional states of people using healthcare spaces while acknowledging its impactful role on patients as well as caregivers alike.
His healthcare work is distinguished by evocative material and environmental responses to context. For a women and children’s hospital in the Southwest, he proposed an undulating facade inspired by windswept landscape.
Over time, he’s taken on larger and more comprehensive project roles. For the 200,000-square-foot Mount Sinai Medical Center’s Irma and Norman Braman Cancer Center in Miami Beach – scheduled to open its doors by fall 2025 – he led site selection analysis, orientation options analysis, exterior design work as well as landscape design work and was an integral member of its leadership. As part of that role, he often helped them use new tools or processes to tackle complex exterior design or sustainability issues that arise during its construction.
Bhat was called upon to use his expertise at Kansas Health Strawberry Hill Behavioral Health Hospital, in Kansas City, Kansas, which converted a vacant government office building into an inpatient hospital of 48 beds. To make full use of its four-story central atrium space – providing natural lighting, air circulation, and views outward into Kansas City.
As part of BJC HealthCare’s transformation efforts to expand clinical programs and medical innovation into the 21st century, he’s leading the design of an 18-story patient tower as part of their transformation plan. Bhat has overseen its exterior massing design as well as redesign of entry experience reworking; in addition to extensive design charrettes with executive leadership. As a trusted partner helping BJC rethink phasing strategies as well as sustainable design solutions.
Bhat’s diverse background in architecture, urban design, and landscape architecture informs his unique holistic design approach. He believes integrating natural features into buildings of any scale is one of the easiest and most natural ways to improve them, and providing access to nature within healthcare spaces can improve outcomes while providing workers with some respite.
Path to Healthcare Design: My journey into healthcare design began more by chance than intentional choice–I wanted to work in my hometown, so when CannonDesign offered an opportunity, it seemed the perfect fit. Our office in St Louis does not divide into studios by discipline which, for me, promoted lateral thinking and prevented burnout; as a designer working across all sectors not just healthcare my approach never differed much from any other project–people, experiences, and creating something beautiful are at the core of everything I do!
Describe Your Approach: I start each project by exploring its unique aspects – this could include program, site or community considerations – so as to avoid providing templated solutions.
On your desk now: I just completed work on the Mount Sinai Braman Cancer Center, an ambitious endeavor in many respects. It pushed our capacities in oncology planning, project documentation and computational design forward in a way that was impossible before. Precast spandrel units, for instance, feature highly sculptural sinusoidal forms that shift and shift as they wrap around a building. As a result, they curved in three dimensions. Our computational design leader created an algorithm which, through multiple iterations and hard work, optimized the forms of panels so as to maximize repetitions while disguising their construction method so the building retained its dynamic aesthetic. Now these tools have wide-reaching applications; I am leading design for an allied sciences building for higher education client.
My most rewarding project to date: My hometown project in St. Louis: designing and constructing a 17-story bed tower for Barnes Jewish Hospital’s main campus. This work will shape both its surroundings along one of our major highways as well as community relations for generations to come. Likewise, the team worked diligently on Braman Cancer Center; creating tools and algorithms for clients’ vision of landmark buildings to come true.
What success means to me: Success is shared. No one achieves anything alone; success is an outcome achieved collectively that opens doors for further progress next time around.
Industry Challenge on your Mind: Finding ways to minimize the negative repercussions that healthcare industry emissions and our environment. Healthcare accounts for an disproportionate portion of U.S. carbon emissions compared with other sectors; given our client’s mission of improving lives of patients and communities, I believe we have an obligation as professionals to reconcile any disparate points.
Healthcare designers require two essential skills today: As artificial intelligence advances, expertise will increasingly be replicated by machines. From my perspective, human designers bring unique strengths that AI cannot replicate; weaving together creativity, experience and empathy into stunning design solutions is what sets us apart as individuals. I advocate less specialization and more agility of thought as the surest path towards success.
Read here for more on the 2023 HCD Rising Stars.