"It's mesmerizing. You can just sit there and watch them move, and you can see them from your chair if you're going through chemo from certain windows. So it's the ultimate positive distraction." — Kristin Ellingsen on HID2.0 In today's episode of Healthcare Interior Design 2.0, Cheryl Janis welcomes Kristin Ellingsen, CHID, NCIDQ, EDAC, and Facility Space Planner at City of Hope in Duarte, California, for a warm and deeply human conversation about Hope Plaza — an extraordinary cancer and diabetes care environment and one of the most recognized recent healthcare design projects in the country. Hope Plaza is an award-winning outpatient care building, but this conversation moves beyond the awards to explore what happens after opening day, when patients, families, caregivers, and team members begin moving through a space, returning to it, noticing it, depending on it, and sometimes even finding a favorite chair. Kristin helps us see Hope Plaza not only as a building, but as a healing landscape of art, light, ritual, nature, hospitality, and care. There are mountain views, softened curves, natural materials, a soothing water wall, gardens, sculpture, a campus art program, and a kinetic parking structure inspired by City of Hope's wishing-tag tradition. And yet, as Cheryl reflects, none of it feels like spectacle. It feels gentle. Supportive. Human. Throughout the conversation, Kristin shares how City of Hope's mission shapes the daily work of design. Unlike a typical acute care hospital, City of Hope serves patients who may return again and again over the course of treatment. That reality changes everything: seating must offer choice, views must soothe, wayfinding must reduce stress, and even the smallest details can become part of someone's care experience. One of the most moving stories Kristin shares is about a man waiting for his wife who told her, "This is my favorite chair." He had even looked underneath the chair to find its name: Charlotte. For Kristin, that moment confirmed something essential about healthcare design — that comfort, dignity, and choice are not luxuries. They matter. Kristin also shares her own unexpected path into healthcare design, beginning with a life that took her around the world, including Egypt, Egyptian Arabian horses, and eventually the experience of caring for her grandmother with dementia. That personal chapter opened her heart to senior living, memory care, universal design, and the deeply human side of healthcare interiors. This is a conversation about City of Hope, Hope Plaza, and the many ways design can create comfort, dignity, wonder, and moments of joy. In this episode, Cheryl and Kristin discuss: Why Hope Plaza has received such extraordinary recognition across healthcare design, interiors, architecture, development, and construction How light, mountain views, curved forms, stone, wood, and biophilic design shape the emotional experience of the building City of Hope's history, beginning in 1913 with a simple but powerful idea that compassion could change lives The way City of Hope's mission continues to guide daily decisions across the campus Why cancer and diabetes care environments require a different kind of attention to comfort, familiarity, and return visits Hope Plaza as a gateway to the City of Hope campus The importance of patient ambassadors and human help at moments of stress or uncertainty The art program at City of Hope and how sculpture, installations, rotating artwork, and gardens create moments of pause The wishing-tag tradition and how it inspired the kinetic façade of the award-winning parking structure Why Kristin calls the parking structure one of her favorite places on campus The role of gardens, the rose garden, sculpture areas, and outdoor spaces in creating respite The story of Charlotte, the favorite chair Why seating choice matters when patients and families may spend long hours waiting How healthcare designers learn from what happens after opening day Kristin's path into healthcare design through Egypt, Egyptian Arabian horses, her grandmother, senior living, and memory care The connection between memory care, universal design, safety, and dignity What hope means to Kristin now Key Takeaways 1. Hope Plaza is more than an award-winning building. Hope Plaza has received major recognition, but Kristin invites us to understand it as a living place — one shaped by how patients, families, caregivers, and team members actually use it. The awards matter, but the deeper story is the human experience after opening day. 2. Light and views can change how people feel. Kristin describes the way light enters Hope Plaza from multiple directions and how the mountain views, natural materials, and curved forms create a visceral sense of comfort. The building does not simply look beautiful; it helps people feel more grounded. 3. Cancer care changes the design question. At City of Hope, patients may come for long appointments, repeated treatments, and years of follow-up care. Kristin describes these patients as "frequent flyers," people who have earned a space that offers comfort, choice, and care over time. 4. Moments of joy can be gentle. Hope Plaza includes art, sculpture, gardens, a water wall, a kinetic façade, and the wishing-tag tradition, but the joy is not loud or overwhelming. It is quiet, beautiful, and supportive — a soft kind of wonder that meets people where they are. 5. The smallest design details can become deeply personal. The favorite chair story says so much about healthcare interiors. A chair is not only a chair when someone is waiting for a loved one. It can become a place of rest, familiarity, and emotional support. 6. Healthcare design continues after opening day. Kristin's work includes observing, listening, adjusting, and responding. Whether it is furniture placement, wayfinding, patient feedback, or staff experience, the building continues to teach the design team once people begin using it. 7. Healthcare found Kristin through lived experience. Kristin's path into healthcare design was shaped by family, responsibility, senior living, memory care, and compassion. Her story is a reminder that many healthcare designers arrive at this work through something deeply personal. Memorable Quotes from Kristin "The light coming into the building really speaks to people, whether they realize it or not." "It functions on the clinical side, but it's comforting on the patient and family side." "It's very different than any building I've been in." "That first time going into a building is the roughest." "It's very satisfying to take someone's stress away." "We're here for the mission." "Our patients are with us for longer — longer during the day, longer during their treatment, and they may come back year after year." "There has to be something for everyone, depending on how you feel that day." "It's the ultimate positive distraction." "Anything we can do to make the patients more comfortable." "If we can't find solutions and cures, we make people more comfortable so they can enjoy life more." About Kristin Ellingsen Kristin Ellingsen is a Facility Space Planner at City of Hope in Duarte, California. Her work touches many of the thoughtful details that shape the healthcare environment, including furniture, finishes, interior standards, space planning, patient-facing areas, staff needs, art, comfort, and the everyday experience of a campus devoted to cancer and diabetes care. At City of Hope, Kristin works across a complex and mission-driven campus where design decisions support patients, families, caregivers, researchers, clinicians, and team members. Her role includes everything from interior standards and furniture planning to collaboration with design partners, facilities teams, patient-facing groups, and those who help keep spaces functioning beautifully after opening day. Kristin's path into healthcare design began through her early interest in senior living and memory care, shaped in part by caring for her grandmother with dementia. That experience continues to inform how she thinks about dignity, safety, comfort, universal design, and the human impact of healthcare interiors. About Hope Plaza at City of Hope Hope Plaza is an eight-story outpatient care building at City of Hope in Duarte, California. The building brings together key parts of the care journey, including lab, pharmacy, café, imaging, clinics, procedure spaces, infusion areas, and research. Designed with patients and families at the center, Hope Plaza connects clinical care with light, views, art, gardens, and moments of respite. The building is shaped by the surrounding landscape, including the San Gabriel Mountains and the idea of water moving through the site. Inside, natural light, softened forms, warm materials, sculptural details, and views help create a calming and cohesive patient experience. Hope Plaza has received significant recognition across healthcare design, interiors, architecture, development, and construction, including honors from Healthcare Design Magazine, IIDA, Interior Design Magazine, the Center for Health Design, World Architecture News, AIA, and others. Resources and Links Mentioned City of Hope Hope Plaza at City of Hope Welcome to Hope Plaza | City of Hope Hope Plaza: A New Era in Outpatient Cancer Care | City of Hope CO Architects City of Hope, Hope Plaza | CO Architects EwingCole Hope Plaza | EwingCole Creating Moments of Joy at City of Hope Plaza | I+S Design Gina Chang, AIA, EDAC | CO Architects AAHID — American Academy of Healthcare Interior Designers CHID — Certified Healthcare Interior Designer® Certification Healthcare Design Magazine IIDA — International Interior Design Association Interior Design Magazine The Center for Health Design World Architecture News AIA — The American Instit
