Swiss Center for Design and Health (SCDH)

The Swiss Center for Design and Health (SCDH) is Switzerland’s only technology center of excellence for design research in the health care sector. Established in 2019 as a public-private partnership, it is funded by the state, the Canton of Bern, and private partners.

The SCDH understands design as the creation of rooms, environments, buildings, information, control systems, and digital solutions as well as services and processes. There is a significant overlap in design and health: Health care facilities should have a positive impact on patients, their relatives, and staff while promoting health in everyday life and in the public sphere. Health is both a personal and social value that is always changing. Human autonomy and the common good are always at the center.

Projects at the interface of design and health are the SCDH’s core competence. It works in the following fields:

• Visual communication
• Buildings and the environment 
• Systems and processes

The SCDH offers analysis, consultancy, simulation, and co-prototyping in all three areas – as a service, in projects financed by funding acquired in competitive procedures, and in the form of professional development. The projects are realized in SCDH’s Living Lab, at customer sites, or digitally. The SCDH uses the platforms (extended-reality simulation area, realistic test rooms, test facilities, workshops, and material collection) as required and according to the question being addressed. The approach is always the same: human-centered, evidence-based, participative, and iterative.

Every change process starts with recording, compiling, and evaluating facts. The SCDH investigates the current position and, together with the client and the users, creates a picture of the starting point; it evaluates the findings and identifies solutions and optimization options.

The analysis can include reviewing the situation and creating reports on the baseline spatial conditions (urban planning, architecture, interiors, and design), the needs and experiences of all users, the process flows, and the services. The analysis can also include brainstorming and developing ideas, as well as isolating problems.

In terms of methodology, the SCDH uses qualitative and quantitative methods of gathering information (interviews, surveys, stakeholder workshops, observation, design analyses, shadowing, and mapping), technical options (measuring brain activity and motion and eye tracking), and literature reviews.

The SCDH offers comprehensive, independent advice, incorporating interdisciplinary knowledge free from conflicts of interest. Clients benefit from a wide range of expertise and a focus on what is important. Personal advice is at the center.

Consultancy can include identifying recommended courses of action, the recommended course of action in various areas (sensor technology, user experience, safety/security, ergonomics, autonomy, accessibility, processes, and services), and preparing and implementing the recommended course of action.

In terms of methodology, the SCDH uses workshops to brainstorm and develop ideas, including with experts, and literature reviews.

The SCDH conducts the simulation-aided inspection of rooms, products, systems, or processes using real and virtual models. The SCDH develops and tests ideas using prototypes – hand in hand with all users. This means that design errors can be identified and avoided early on in the project, thereby optimizing processes and increasing acceptance for future rooms, products, and services. This increases planning reliability and helps avoid costs.

When it comes to simulation and co-prototyping, the SCDH is involved in workshops where it simulates treatment and work processes, conducts evaluations with users, or assesses potential solutions in a sandbox testing environment, for example.

The SCDH involves the user group as part of its methodology. This might be the elderly, adults with an impairment, or children and young people. We simulate impairments with an age-simulation suit or age-simulation glasses, for example. The technology used can also include 3D scans and virtual and extended reality.

As a national center of technological excellence, the SCDH brings together broad knowledge from the areas of design and health. It is happy to share this knowledge. Basic and advanced training addresses innovative issues, opens up interdisciplinary ways of thinking, and allows access to an exciting network.

The 560 m² extended-reality simulation area can project entire floor plans on a 1:1 scale, to which lightweight construction walls, mock-ups, and context-specific furnishings can be added. Room plans and processes become three-dimensional, allowing floor plans to be walked and experienced.

In realistic test rooms, treatment and work environments can be realistically recreated to simulate and test facilities, technologies, and products – with all the senses. The rooms have a surface area of 300 m², are beside each other, can be modified thanks to their modular structure, and are connected by a corridor. They allow A/B testing and have light controls, daylight simulation, and sound systems.

The test facilities allow controllable and reproducible conditions to be created. This is where the effect of factors such as light, color, acoustics, or the feel of surfaces can be studied or accessibility can be tested.

The material collection indexes health-promoting and resource-efficient materials. These are validated using the latest research findings and experience, and demonstrated in their real conditions of use. The collection offers digital and physical tools, a growing knowledge database, and evidence-based planning aids.