How Women’s Lived Experiences Can Shape Their Health Spaces
Health spaces are where some of life’s most transformative moments take place. Understanding these moments and what they mean to a range of individuals is a key part of delivering environments that don’t just function but also feel like they were made for the people they serve.
Take women’s health spaces: What happens when we listen to women’s stories, their needs and their experiences to guide how women-focused health spaces are designed? By centering the lived experiences of women, we can create environments that not only serve a function, but also provide autonomy, dignity and empowerment in many people’s health journeys.
In exploring three HKS projects created to support women through various health events, we see what becomes possible when spaces are designed with women and for women.
Abide Women’s Health Services: Expanded Access to Care
Abide Women’s Health Services is expanding its South Dallas clinic with a new birth and collective care center designed to increase access to maternal care in a neighborhood long considered a healthcare desert. The project is a ground-up expansion adjacent to an existing clinic and is slated to include three birthing suites, a community plaza and a garden. Every element is rooted in Abide’s mission to provide dignified care for women who may face barriers to accessing traditional healthcare.
A Citizen HKS project, the Abide Birth and Collective Care Center reflects the firm’s commitment to community driven design and continuous improvement, according to Candace Goodman, an architect and project manager.
“Kids or no kids, we all understand the importance of maternal care. We continue to research and ask the right questions in order to make sure that institutions can provide for women,” said Goodman.
Goodman, who serves on Citizen HKS steering committee, also said the design draws on inspiration and lessons learned from Kachumbala Maternity Unit, an award-winning health environment and Citizen HKS project that dramatically increased access to quality maternal care in Kachumbala, Uganda.
“Being a global firm, we can bring our perspectives to different locations,” Goodman said, “While there are differences in locations, some of the inequities are the same and each project can work to overcome them.”
Each of the Center’s birthing suites will support different labor and delivery approaches. There are water birth tubs, beds, and areas that support squatting or leaning— plenty of options for those giving birth and the midwives who aid them.
“The goal is to provide for any way an expecting mom wants to labor,” Goodman said, noting that one of the primary driving forces in the project was to provide women with autonomy and freedom.
“The goal is to provide for any way an expecting mom wants to labor.”
Located in a historically African American neighborhood, the one-story building will feature an exterior design and material palette crafted to reflect the character of its surroundings. Far from being a shiny glass medical building, it is intended to feel like a safe, comfortable place for women seeking care.
Goodman credits the project’s success to a rewarding and positive collaboration between Abide and the HKS project team, many of whom are women.
“Our design has impact,” she said. “Abide is making a huge change in the community, and I just know with the birthing center, it’s going to amplify that. We’re really trying to reflect the community, partner with them, and help be a catalyst for change.”
Baylor Scott & White Medical Center – Frisco at PGA Parkway: Seamless Journeys for Mothers and Staff
At Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Frisco, Texas, a new women’s services floor brings labor and delivery, postpartum and antepartum care, and NICU care together in one place. The hospital, which opened in 2025, was planned to create an intuitive journey for mothers and the staff who care for them, according to senior medical planner Caitlin Potter.
“You’re going in to have a baby, or you’re going to see your baby in the NICU. Those are very different journeys, and the space needs to help that. It shouldn’t get in the way,” said Potter,
Potter was a NICU baby herself and grew up hearing stories of her mother’s challenges traveling long distances to visit her as a newborn, which now leads Potter to advocate for design decisions where parents and babies can always be as close together as possible.
“At the time, there were big ‘baby barns’ where the baby might be at the opposite side of the hospital or in a whole other building,” Potter said. “The hoops they had to go through to come see me when I was sick…it influenced me (as an architect).”
Potter also had a son right before beginning work on the Baylor Scott & White Medical Center, and said that being a mom enabled her to empathize, ask the right questions throughout design and construction, and advocate for design solutions that would enhance families’ comfort. Her perspective, combined with the perspective of the project team and health system collaborators, led to a unified vision for providing women with options for their hospital stay.
Design strategies on the floor support women and families with different needs and reasons for being there. Adjacent to patient rooms, flexible rooms with a bed and work surface and other comfortable features provide options that suit different circumstances. Surrogate or adoptive families can stay nearby, large multigenerational families have a place to gather, and partners who need a separate sleeping area have one. The NICU also includes both single-family rooms and hybrid rooms that accommodate two families.
“We put a lot of thought into those rooms so we could accommodate different types of families,” Potter said. “No matter what department you’re looking at, it’s important to build in opportunities for choice. That’s when you start to truly understand a woman’s (or mom’s) journey and give dignity and respect to what they might be going through.”
Nexus Recovery Center: Dignity Through Community
Nexus Recovery Center in Dallas offers a safe space for women recovering from substance use disorders at their new Doswell Building. The building, which opened last year, provides residential detox facilities, medical exam and treatment spaces, counseling rooms, and admissions services, and private and shared respite spaces.
Early in the project’s development, which started as a Citizen HKS project, the HKS team aligned with Nexus’ principles of security, dignity, and community, ensuring that the design would mirror the organization’s foundational mission and truly reflect the lived experiences of their clients.
From private treatment and recovery areas to community spaces throughout the building project, Nexus staff and clients collaborated with HKS to shape the design in meaningful ways.
“Every nook and cranny came from someone,” said architect Julia Hager said, reflecting an interaction with receptionist who pointed to a photo of recovery program participants on the wall and said, “That’s me… Nexus saved my life.” For Hager, who led planning and management of the Nexus project, that was just one of the many moments that defined the project’s humanity and transformed Nexus from being a client or a project into a community of people she now calls family.
The Doswell Building’s courtyard is another example of lived experiences being key feedback to shape design. When the Nexus and HKS teams brainstormed how to provide comfortable yet secure outdoor space, they debated assigning the courtyard to a single user group. Deep discussion and insights shared from women in the program, however, helped the team realize that to truly support the dignity of all women at Nexus, the courtyard needed to be a space for everyone.
“It was a turning moment in the design. We realized we can’t possibly make a decision on who gets the courtyard and who doesn’t get it. It wasn’t our decision to make,” Hager said.
That working environment—grounded in trust, empathy, and shared purpose—helped the team create architecture that is simple, intentional, and deeply rooted in the lives of the women it serves. In the courtyard, for example, carefully placed windows and sightlines allow people inside to feel connected to nature and daylight without feeling exposed, and women can also go outside to enjoy a natural setting while still having privacy.
“All the pieces that were chosen and the decisions that were made were very carefully curated—that’s what made beautiful architecture,” Hager said.
Designing With, Not Just For, Women
Across these three projects, a shared truth emerges: health environments support the strongest outcomes when they respect the lived experiences of those using them. From expanding maternal care access to creating spaces that every family, regardless of circumstance and makeup has a place and spaces that offer a safe path to recovery — each team translated lived experiences into design decisions that honor the realities of women’s lives.
What unites these places is a way of working rooted in listening, questioning assumptions, and providing choice. With these practices at the forefront of architecture and design practice, we can create spaces that expand access to care, strengthen communities, and move the built environment toward a more responsive future.
