Announcements August 15, 2024

Meet Shirley Deborah, an E. Todd Wheeler Health Fellow, Class of 2025

Shirley will be based out of the Chicago Studio

Where are you from?
I am from Chennai; it is a city in the southern part of India. I’m proud to be Tamilian and to speak one of the oldest languages in the world.

What is your degree, and what institution is it from?
I received my Master of Science degree in Architecture with a specialization in Health and Design from Georgia Tech, Atlanta. I got my bachelor’s degree in architecture in India.

Why is healthcare design so important to you and why did you want to pursue a career in healthcare design?
I have had personal experiences of staying in hospitals for long periods of time, both for family and for myself too as a kid. When I was doing my bachelor’s in architecture, I was staying in a hospital during COVID for a month as a caretaker, and I could not help but keep wondering how much more those spaces could be elevated in design to maximize patient comfort and staff workflow. Hospitals are complex spaces driven heavily by function. But they are also spaces where user experience needs to be considered highly. We all have huge respect for the medical professionals who work to save lives every day, and being in a well-designed space is also a small part of the healing process. It’s not just for the patients—good design can promote clear and efficient workflows for doctors, nurses, and other staff. Design has an impact on health, and I want to make that positive impact.

Shirley performed daylight analysis in patient rooms, leveraging passive design strategies and running multiple simulations to refine different design iterations.

At the SimTigrate Lab, Shirley partnered with the Emory Brain Health Center (CEP) to conduct co-design workshops with medical professionals and patients. Their goal was to identify potential red flags within common living areas and develop practical design solutions to help older adults with mild cognitive impairment navigate spaces safely.

Has your mentor and colleagues given you the support, training, and resources to accomplish your goals?
Everyone at the Chicago studio has been very welcoming. I am very grateful to be sitting among a group of extremely skilled and experienced designers who are always ready and willing to teach and guide me towards my goals. My mentor has been very understanding and supportive, and is constantly making sure I am learning always, even at times when I am hesitant to ask for help. I am excited to learn more and start contributing to the field of healthcare design along with this incredible team.

What anticipated goals and experiences were you most excited about when joining Perkins&Will?
During my bachelor’s program, I learnt about Perkins&Will as being one of the top architecture firms in the world, and I always wondered how cool it would be to work here. To be sitting in the exact same firm today is truly a dream come true. So far, this experience has been truly unique and rewarding. I was excited to work with a diverse group of architects and designers from around the world. Seeing this collaboration in the studio now shows me that good design is universal. Everyone’s experiences are unique, and when they come together to create something new, it becomes clear that we are all passionate about the same things.

What do you hope to learn from the experience?
I look forward to continuing my research while taking advantage of the countless opportunities this firm offers to train myself and eventually become a better designer in the healthcare field. In addition to the research and professional experience provided by the fellowship, I am eager to make connections and learn from the people here. Perkins and Will has a rich, inclusive, and diverse group of architects and researchers, and I would love to engage with them to discuss and deepen my knowledge. Moreover, this vast firm offers the chance to learn from other areas of architecture beyond healthcare. I hope to have the time and opportunity to interact and learn from them as well.

At Georgia Tech's SimTigrate Design Lab, Shirley worked as a graduate research assistant, studying dynamic lighting systems. She focused on the lighting mechanics of setting up a patient room in the lab for observation, running studies with various light settings (lux levels).

What was it about the E. Todd Wheeler Health Fellowship that attracted you?
The idea of taking research and evidence-based design to the practical architectural world along with the vast opportunity and expert guidance that this firm would provide is what drove me to apply for the fellowship. My previous experiences with UX Research (studying the impact light has on the circadian rhythm of patients) along with my healthcare architecture internship at SmithGroup shaped my goal to want to become a medical planner someday. Attaining this fellowship and gaining the experience it would provide, pushes me a step closer to achieving my goal.

What does it mean to you, personally, to have been selected as a health fellow at our firm?
I feel incredibly humbled at the same time honored to have been selected as a health fellow. I am glad my interests and works have aligned with the core of this fellowship, and I am excited to start working with my mentors and other researchers in the firm. I am hoping to learn more, improve my skills and make meaningful contributions in this field.

What do you hope to do, see, or experience in the city where your fellowship is taking place?
Chicago is a beautiful city for an architect to live in. During my undergrad, I took a course on the modern architecture of Chicago and, ever since then, I have always wanted to explore the city and learn more about its history. Apart from healthcare architecture, I am equally passionate about architectural history, especially conservation/preservation of historic buildings, so this is the perfect city to study and explore. What I am not looking forward to is the infamous Chicago winter!

How would you describe Perkins&Will’s company culture (3 words)?
Inclusive, Respectful and Inspirational.

5 Fun Facts About Shirley:

My primary focus in high school was to become an engineer, it was 24/7 preparation for competitive exams and zero extra curriculars. Changing to architecture was a last-minute decision I took on a whim while I was applying for colleges, and, today, I am glad I did it.
I have probably watched every medical drama ever produced, and some more than once like Greys Anatomy and House M.D., even before getting into architecture school. Maybe subconsciously, this inspired me to get into healthcare architecture too.
I am left-handed but, as a kid, I broke my dominant hand, so I trained myself to use my right hand for a long time. Now I can use both hands equally, mostly for basic tasks like eating and writing.
I was in the beach of Kanyakumari (Southernmost tip of India) for Christmas holidays with my family during the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. We left the beach to go into the city to buy shoes because the waves took our shoes in, just hours before the tsunami hit. We escaped because of those missing shoes!
My life’s mission: Trying to be a good Christian, to love everyone around me and to put Jesus first in everything I do.

Shirley presenting her paper "Systematic literature review on Light and its impact on sleep and circadian rhythm in people with MCI" at the EDRA'23.

Meet Shirley Deborah, an E. Todd Wheeler Health Fellow, Class of 2025

Related Content