Dr. Julie Zook, professor of architecture, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Architecture
The Research
In today’s rapidly evolving world, the connection between health and the built environment has never been more urgent—or more promising. At the forefront of this intersection is professor Julie Zook with the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who is helping to redefine how architects think about health in design. Her work explores how the physical design of spaces, especially healthcare environments, can tangibly influence health outcomes, social equity, and community vitality.
Zook’s research centers on how health and wellbeing are fundamentally shaped by the built environment. “Health and wellbeing are social because they are significantly shaped by how opportunities are given to or withheld from groups or individuals. Architecture and community design are part of how society expresses and maintains itself, and design has systematic and predictable effects on health,” she says. For Zook, these effects are not limited to clinical settings. “Health is constructed through all parts of life, not just when you’re in a medical space. Even though it’s really important, it’s subtle—and you have to look closely to understand how design affects society and opportunities for health and well-being.”
Dr. Julie Zook, professor of architecture, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Architecture
The Work
Since 2023, the School of Architecture has offered a healthcare design studio, sponsored by design firm HDR and led by Grace Rappe, with much of the day-to-day teaching by HDR architect Sheri Teymouri. The studio allows students to confront the highly technical realities of healthcare projects; Zook co-taught the spring 2024 edition.
During one of her recent studio projects with HDR, Zook supported the transformation of a former Barnes & Noble bookstore in Chicago into a clinic and outpatient surgical center. The space, once car-centric and parking lot-oriented, was redesigned as a civic space that invites the local community into the space to connect.
“Traditionally, healthcare building types have been coercive spaces. So, when HDR proposed putting a healthcare function inside an old retail building, it was an opportunity to rethink healthcare space. Sometimes when you mix two building types—like a store where you go to browse and wander and engage your imagination—and you take that skeleton and put a healthcare space into it, it’s a chance to rethink how healthcare architecture can have some of those properties,” Zook says. “How can it be a more pleasant and engaging environment? How can it address itself to the whole patient and the whole healthcare worker?”
“Civic space” rendering for new healthcare center.
The History
Zook connects these modern innovations to a broader historical trajectory. “If you go back 100 years in Chicago, tenements and workplaces were really dangerous—super destructive to health. It was the advocacy of the Progressive Era that gave us the degree of safety and comfort that many of us enjoy today,” she says. “Now, environmental pollution and inequality are exacerbating old problems and creating new problems that architects should work to combat if we are to be worthy of our status as professionals.”
Her perspective comes at a time when communities are reevaluating how design can address public health—not just in response to crises like COVID-19, but also to tackle longstanding disparities. “Through my and my colleagues’ research, we’ve come to learn that architecture’s influence on health is not just incidental. It’s built into how space functions and how it connects people.”
Zook’s edited volume, The Covert Life of Hospital Architecture, expands on these ideas by exploring hospitals as complex environments where both visible design choices and latent functions of spaces influence patient safety, care team communication, and navigation for visitors. The book presents new research offering evidence-based insights on how everyday hospital interactions are shaped by layout and design, and how that impacts patient health outcomes.
“Civic space” rendering for new healthcare center.
The Future
Interestingly, Zook has noticed how health-focused design is being embraced in higher education, where students increasingly comprehend the importance of complex mental and physical health challenges. “What I find fascinating is how much health is on the minds of students and many of us who work with students. Students want to develop skills and opportunities to do meaningful work that improves health and well-being,” she said.
Zook works across classrooms, research settings, and real-world projects to keep health and well-being at the center of architectural design. She collaborates with clients to develop planning strategies and design decisions that make healthier environments possible—both in how spaces are used and how they’re experienced.
The message is both timely and urgent: health is no longer a niche concern in architecture—it is central. And as Zook continues to help institutions, designers, and communities shift their thinking, her work is a compelling example of how design can play a transformative role in the future of health.
