D. Kirk Hamilton

Health facility design innovator
joins A&M architecture faculty
   


Last fall, D. Kirk Hamilton, an acclaimed innovator in the field of health-care architecture, joined the architecture faculty at Texas A&M University. A distinguished scholar and fellow in both the American College of Healthcare Architects and the American Institute of Architects, Hamilton is a founding principal of Watkins Hamilton Ross Architects, Inc., a design firm headquartered in Houston, Texas.

An associate professor and faculty fellow in the Center for Health Systems and Design at the A&M College of Architecture, Hamilton is interested in evidence-based design for health care and the relationship of facility design to measurable organizational performance. He was hired for his expertise in health-care architecture through the College of Architecture’s ongoing “signature faculty search” initiative.

He recently completed a master of science in organizational development from Pepperdine University and holds a bachelor of architecture from the University of Texas.

Hamilton has more than 30 years of experience in health facility design. He is the leader of Q Group Advisors, the consulting division of Watkins Hamilton Ross Architects. Through his continued collaboration with the firm, he brings current practical experience to his graduate studios at Texas A&M.

The professor is past president of the American College of Healthcare Architects and the AIA Academy of Architecture for Health. He is on the board of directors of the Coalition for Health Environments Research and The Center for Healthcare Design, and he serves on the faculty of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.

Hamilton has chaired the Design Committee of the Society for Critical Care Medicine and is a co-author of the organization’s design guidelines which are currently being revised. A prolific writer, he has published numerous articles on health-care design, evidence-based practice, and organizational performance.

He has authored and edited three books on health facility design and is currently working on two new books: one on guiding principles for the design of humanistic health facilities, and another, with A&M architecture professor Mardelle Shepley, about evidence-based design for critical care to be published in 2005 by Architectural Press.

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D. Kirk Hamilton