by Franklin B. Way

Every day, the corridors of the University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW) Medical Center in Dallas are abuzz with news of advances in the fight against the world’s deadliest diseases. While developments for new treatments keep the conversations lively, the abundance of sterile lab equipment and hygienic work spaces pretty much confines color to the chromatogram printouts.

But the UTSW Department of Biochemistry recently experienced an explosion of color – in the form of 18 panoramic images of American landscape. The limited edition Franklin B. Way photographs act as “windows,” brightening closed hallways while integrating blue sky and transparent streams into an environment of DNA sequencers and radioisotope counters.

“The photographs have created a truly unusual and unique contrast in our facility,” said UTSW associate Paula Wiles. “Dry-erase boards scribbled with complex formulas and research findings now are intertwined with bursts of color and great shapes of nature.”

Word Has It

UTSW is joining a rising number of clinical and healthcare facilities purchasing art for the enhancement of employees’ daily environments. Interior designer Marlene Buckner anticipates even more managers will be incorporating artwork into their facilities in the future.

An associate at Thompson Design Associates, Inc., a firm responsible for designing more than five million square feet of healthcare interiors, Buckner has witnessed an increase in the budget facility managers are designating for artwork.

“Even in the past year, we have seen a noticeable shift in focus,” said Buckner. “Facility managers are now asking questions about how art can be included in the overall design, not just as an aesthetic element, but as a way of increasing employee well-being and possibly decreasing the long-term costs associated with employee turnover. When recommending photography, we advise our clients to install images that depict landscapes or landmarks from that region. We believe that people find comfort in familiar things, particularly in high stress situations.”

To spread the word on the benefits of art in such facilities, healthcare and arts professionals recently came together at The Arts in Healthcare Symposium in Washington, D.C. Among several other forms of art, the symposium’s concept paper included specific research on photography: “Nature photography is recommended... Color photography, when coupled with nature, can be a healing medium on conscious and subliminal levels. Reproductions of scenes in nature can emit a healing energy.”[1]

The research does not surprise Franklin B. Way, the Lincoln, Nebraska-based photographer who shot the images now on display at UTSW. “Research investigators and lab technicians enjoy the outdoors just as much, if not more, than the rest of the working world,” said Way, who has noticed an increase in sales of landscape photography to research facilities.

It’s Only Natural

Because everything from what can hang on the walls of a clinical laboratory to the clothing technicians can wear inside the labs is highly regulated, researchers are looking to their administrative spaces for an escape from their everyday environment.

Research suggests that art improves employee satisfaction, morale and productivity. The Arts in Healthcare Symposium concept paper addresses the positive impact of art on staff, stating, “An enhanced environment will help attract and retain professional healthcare workers.”

Wiles agrees. While she emphasizes that it is the nature of the researchers’ work that motivates them to produce outstanding results every day, she believes the artwork adds a different element to the workplace, creating spaces to which the staff members look forward to returning each day.

“With researchers working at times around the clock, the nature photographs are welcome reminders of their love of life,” said Wiles. “The images reinforce our dedication to improving the outlook for thousands of patients.”

Worth a Thousand Words

By bringing nature photography into a clinical facility – an environment where science and humanity meet to solve the mysteries of the world – lab directors can transform the walls of their facilities into message boards that reinforce the culture of their organizations.

Art can also function as a way to demonstrate the organization’s awareness of and respect for its employees’ outside interests. For instance, at a second University of Texas research facility, the personal lives of employees are reflected in the facility’s artwork.

Dr. Timothy Madden of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s (UTMDACC) Pharmaceutical Development Center in Houston recently added landscape photography to his facility. To select the art, he relied on the personal experiences of his staff when choosing which images to place on the walls of the center’s administrative spaces.

“Many of the staff members here have second homes or favorite vacations spots across the country,” said Dr. Madden. “For instance, my co-director loves Maine, so we have selected several spectacular images of that region to bring a piece of his personal interests into the facility. The photographs help our colleagues share their outside passions in the workplace, which has done great things for the morale of our department.”

Dr. Madden believes that the photographs have been most valuable because of their ability to transform uninspiring corridors and offices into stimulating environments. “A lot of the work that we do here requires reflection,” said Dr. Madden. “We researchers need to sit back and think about the meaning of the data we’ve uncovered and how that data can be used to fight cancer. Through the photography, we have created a tranquil environment conducive to that necessary reflection.”

By bringing the outdoors inside, the lab managers at these two Texas facilities downplay the stresses of everyday work and encourage quiet contemplation of potential life-saving treatments. Adorned with images of nature, the walls of these facilities reflect the complex mysteries of nature that the scientists within are laboring to solve.

[1] Oberlander R: Beauty in a hospital aids the cure. Hospitals 53(6): 89-92, 1979.

Franklin B. Way is a landscape photographer with more than three decades of experience. Way has a wide portfolio of photography ranging from powerful, panoramic views of majestic terrain to intricate, close-up shots revealing nature’s hidden secrets. Over the years, designers have discovered Way’s photographs to be a unique solution in a variety of interior settings, from boardrooms to bathrooms, lobbies to living rooms. You can view selected images from Way’s portfolio at www.imagesoftheland.com.

Interior designer: Thompson Design Associates, Inc., 2846 NW Fairfax Terrace, Portland, OR 97210, Tel: