We've taken on health care in a big way in our office, ever since nine years ago when I was paralyzed. I was in eight different hospitals, three different rehab centers, and all the rooms were dreadful. As an architect, designer, and patient, I can do something to help.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of improving healthcare environments based on personal experiences.
Michael Graves reflects on his transformative experience as a patient in healthcare facilities, highlighting the dismal conditions he encountered. Drawing from his insights as both an architect and designer, he asserts that he has a responsibility to enhance the healthcare environment, showcasing how personal adversity can inspire a commitment to positive change in society.
In practice
During a keynote address about health innovation.
Form must never trump function. Some objects are made to look so smooth, you don't know where to pick them up or how to turn them on. If I'm designing a garlic press or cheese grater, I need my hand to fit comfortably on it. I like to know, instinctively, how to use it.
Good design should be available to everyone - and I do mean everyone. What I spent on the wheelchair I'm in could buy a small Mercedes. It's not only unfair to me; it's unfair to someone who's indigent but has the same needs. My goal is to make all objects affordable.
Instead of using the machine as a metaphor for architecture, as Le Corbusier did, I use the human body. I want the public to know that it's them I'm designing for.
I believe well-designed places and objects can actually improve healing, while poor design can inhibit it.
Character is revealed through action.
What do sad complaints avail if the offense is not cut down by punishment.
The redeeming feature of war is that it puts a nation to the test. As exposure to the atmosphere reduces all mummies to instant dissolution, so war passes supreme judgment upon social systems that have outlived their vitality.
Here's a thought: what if we ban the word 'healthy food' from our culinary vocabulary? I'm not talking about banning foods that are considered healthy. I'm talking about changing the way we think about food overall.
Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.
God is silent. Now if only man would shut up.
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