WELL Certification: Setting New Standards for a Healthier Tomorrow
AIAU26-AAH04
Included in subscription
1
LU|HSW
Course expires on: 04/12/2027
Included in subscription
Description
Tuesday, May 12, 2026 | 2-3pm ET
When faced with an inefficient building that could no longer meet patient needs or provide required services, SSM Health set a new industry standard. The SSM Health Dean Medical Group’s South Madison Campus is the largest healthcare facility in the United States and the first in Wisconsin to achieve WELL v2 Pilot GOLD Certification demonstrating a profound commitment to patient and employee health and wellbeing.
The 175,000-square-foot outpatient clinic consolidates over 18 specialty services, including oncology, orthopedics, and therapy, in a highly functional and sustainable building. The design emphasizes environmental stewardship, occupant health, and comfort, incorporating features such as natural daylight, views of nature, and air quality improvements. The building scored highly across all ten WELL Building Certification categories, including air, nourishment, light, and movement. With a focus on health at every level in both the design and operations, this clinic achieves industry leading wellbeing targets, exceeds Wisconsin’s energy codes, and includes provisions for future expansions and operations.
This session will highlight design strategies that lead to achieving premier sustainability goals, such as WELL Building standards. Specifically, how the design at SSM Health Dean Medical Group’s South Madison Campus has created healthier, more sustainable spaces for patients and staff.
Learning Objectives
Learn about how the principles of WELL Certification were applied to the largest healthcare facility in the United States to enhance the patient and employee health and well-being.
Recognize how the incorporation of features such as natural daylight, views of nature, and air quality improvements were able to enhance environmental stewardship, occupant health, and overall comfort of the facility.
Understand how meeting the WELL Building standards in the categories of air, nourishment, light, and movement ultimately exceeded Wisconsin’s energy codes and created a more sustainable set of buildings.
Learn about how certain features from NFPA 101 (Life Safety Code) and the 2022 FGI Guidelines were applied across a range of specialties such as oncology, orthopedics, and therapy, related to both the design and operational needs of building occupants.
Presented in partnership with the Academy of Architecture for Health (AAH).
Nick Faust graduated from the University of Kansas with a Master of Architecture degree in 2018 with an emphasis in Health & Wellness Design. Nick became a licensed Architect (Texas) in 2020 and holds EDAC and WELL Building certifications. Beginning in 2017, Nick has worked for Lawrence Group in their St. Louis, MO and Austin, TX offices on numerous projects ranging from clinic and laboratory renovations to grounds up expansion hospitals.
Collaborative teamwork is at the root of Sara’s efforts as a Project Manager. She works closely with clients from the pre-design phase through to project closeout and leverages her strong leadership skills to manage architectural, engineering, consultant, and construction teams. She combines her healthcare experience with a passion for understanding clients’ needs to achieve innovative design solutions that positively impact the patient, family, and caregiver experience while also meeting a project’s schedule and budget requirements.
Tim is a Senior Designer specializing in large-scale healthcare projects. His commitment to innovative planning, design integrity and crafting the patient experience has resulted in extraordinary projects with meaningful impact for the communities they serve. Approaching each project with passion and hard work, he engages clients in shaping experiences that are thoughtfully composed and elegant in simplicity. Combined with his attention to detail and drive for building performance, Tim merges design sensitivity with well-crafted architectural solutions.
Paul is committed to supporting his clients’ business strategies through the thoughtful planning and design of the built healthcare environment. As principal, he combines his background in medical planning, process improvement and leading high-performing teams to direct the programming, planning, and design process. Paul is unequivocally dedicated to achieving the triple aim in healthcare: exceptional human experiences, excellent clinical outcomes, and highly efficient operations. His approach is driven by collaboration and innovation, which emphasizes the value of developing a deep understanding of a client’s organization, culture, and mission as the basis for high-performing solutions that promote healing.
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