HKS healthcare architect Patrick Schultz: "The more complex, the better!"

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patrick schultz

Mr. Patrick Schultz is a pioneering architect in the healthcare industry. He developed a strong passion for the healthcare industry from early on in his career. In an exclusive interview with Bolidt he explains what architecture means to him and what it is exactly that fascinates him about the healthcare industry.

Architecture is…

Architecture means something different to every architect you ask. For Patrick the most fascinating thing about architecture is that it has the singular ability to make a positive contribution to society. “Naturally, our individual lives occur in the buildings where we live, work and play. As a society, the buildings where we govern, educate, research or heal, require the larger institutional settings and scale,” explains Patrick. “ As an architect, I enjoy large scale programs for healthcare, medical and educational facilities.

The challenges each building type presents are unique in terms of the complexity of program, design and technical challenges. The rewards of designing complex facilities with a humanistic (non-institutional) scale and proportions are tremendous, knowing the services these buildings will accommodate to those who routinely use, work, or visit them.”

Frank Lloyd Wright’s and E. Fay Jones’ work form a source of inspiration 

Patrick’s passion for architecture developed when he was a young boy growing up with his hero being nobody less than Frank Lloyd Wright. “Not having an FLW (Frank Lloyd Wright) buildings nearby to visit or experience first-hand, I did the next best thing by reading his writings of architectural theory and sketching from any book photographs of his house and buildings.” Explains Patrick.

His strong passion for architecture resulted in Patrick attending the University of Arkansas’ School of architecture.  During his time at the University he met his architectural hero E. Fay Jones, who’s still a source of inspiration for Patrick Schultz’s designs nowadays.  Fay Jones, who passed away in 2004, was considered by many as the “quiet” successor to Frank Lloyd Wright. “ He was one of the most principled, practicing champions of FLW’s theory or organic architecture, expressed and interpreted in his own authentic style.”

Patrick Schultz graduated from the University of Arkansas, School of Architecture in 1986, after which he started practice as an architectural intern with Tsoi/Kubus & Associates. From the early start in his career he worked on healthcare, medical and educational facilities, sparking a career long passions and pursuit for these facilities and their clients. Some of the projects he worked on include: Brigham & Woman’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Harvard University. 

Why healthcare architecture?

For Patrick there are many interesting aspects to the design of inpatient hospital and outpatient healthcare environments. Primary among them is satisfying the dual challenge of improving the overall patient care experience while improving the overall platform for the delivery of patient care. On the one hand, the nature of the patient –then and now—is changing. 

We are living longer, but not healthier. Patients are likely to present one or more chronic disease conditions increasing patient complexity, at the same demanding better access and more choices in healthcare. “ For health systems to respond effectively, they must thoughtfully design and construct facilities that are standard, modular, change ready and adaptable to improve performance and improve patient satisfaction. For healthcare clients today, we must accomplish both.” He believes that architects must focus on integration, collaboration and optimization of the whole when creating tomorrow’s healing environments.

With over 25 years of experience, Patrick Schultz is one of the leading architects in today’s healthcare environment and forms a source of inspiration for many within the industry. It may come as no surprise that after successfully leading his own national healthcare practice in Washington, D.C for many years, he decided to join international healthcare giant (listed nr.3  on the 2014 Giants 300 Report for the healthcare sector) HKS as vice president and healthcare practice leader for the Mid- Atlantic region.