Recharge Rooms
Designing immersive environments to support clinician well-being
SUMMARY
During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare professionals across the country faced extreme stress, trauma, and burnout. In response, Studio Elsewhere created Recharge Rooms—immersive, biophilic spaces designed to offer rapid mental and emotional restoration. These rooms integrated music, scent, light, and sound to provide moments of calm amid crisis.
TIMELINE
2020
PLATFORM
Web - Desktop
Physical Installation
CLIENT
Studio Elsewhere
Hospitals nationwide - (including Mount Sinai, Banner Health, Michigan Medicine)
TOOLS
Figma
Next.js
AWS
IoT Systems
MY ROLE AND TEAM
Creative Technologist & UX Designer
I served as a critical member of the deployment team, supporting installations during peak pandemic surges. My work spanned:
System integration: Installing AV hardware and software in high-stakes hospital settings
Live troubleshooting: Diagnosing and resolving tech issues in real-time
Staff education: Providing onboarding and training so rooms could operate without supervision
Experience design: Iterating interactions based on direct clinician feedback
I worked closely with Studio Elsewhere’s design and engineering teams, as well as hospital-based researchers at Mount Sinai’s Abilities Research Center, who validated our biophilic approach.
UXR
Discovery themes drawn from hospital interviews:
Emotional Fatigue
How might we help clinicians decompress in just 5–10 minutes between patients?
Clinical Safety
What interaction models minimize infection risk while maintaining accessibility?
Low Mental Load
Can this space offer recovery without asking staff to "learn" a new tool?
KEY INSIGHTS
Rest starts with simplicity
Clinicians shared that the mental toll of their work was amplified by a lack of time, space, and support for recovery. They needed something immediate, calming, and effortless. An experience that required no learning or setup but offered a dependable moment of relief.
Burnout Crisis
Healthcare workers faced a mental health emergency, driven by trauma, exhaustion, and fear of infection.
Nature Deprivation
Many worked long hours without natural light or outdoor access, accelerating stress and dysregulation.
No Bandwidth for Tech
Rooms had to be instantly usable with little maintenance—no logins, no downloads, no troubleshooting.
Quiet Matters
Small choices like soundscape pacing or gentle light transitions proved to have outsized effects on mood.
DESIGN GOAL
Deliver accessible, calming spaces that restore clinicians in minutes, without adding to their workload.
DESIGN EXPLORATIONS
On-Device Voice AI
We implemented voice control that ran entirely offline for HIPAA compliance, enabling private, hands-free interaction.
DESIGN EXPLORATIONS
Universal Design
Everything in the room was designed for instant use, with clear affordances and ambient transitions that guided clinicians gently through the experience.
DESIGN EXPLORATIONS
Modular Architecture
The system could adapt to different hospital sizes, noise conditions, and power constraints while maintaining a consistent user experience.
OBSTACLES
Building in high-stakes environments with real-world limits
Designing for the real world of hospitals meant solving complex technical and spatial challenges in real time. We prioritized flexible, resilient systems that could adapt to varied environments without sacrificing ease of use.
Strict hospital firewalls and limited network access prevented cloud-based solutions.
We developed a self-contained system with locally stored content and on-device AI, ensuring rooms operated fully offline and met HIPAA compliance.
Each hospital room varied in size, acoustics, lighting, and power infrastructure.
We modularized hardware and software configurations, enabling on-site customization and faster installs without redesigning core functionality.
Frontline staff had no time for long design sessions or feedback loops.
We gathered feedback in micro-moments during installs or usage, and iterated continuously—sometimes within the same shift—to align closely with user needs.
TAKEAWAYS
Designing under pressure, delivering with purpose
In fast-paced clinical settings, I learned to think on my feet, adopt new technologies quickly, and make empathetic design decisions that supported overworked care teams without adding complexity.
Rapid Tech Adoption
Working across AV systems, embedded hardware, and voice interfaces pushed me to quickly understand and deploy unfamiliar technologies. I learned to prototype, test, and implement fast—without sacrificing reliability or user trust.
Problem-Solving in High-Stress Environments
In healthcare environments, priorities shift often. Throughout this project, I adapted to evolving feedback while keeping patient needs at the core of every iteration.
Every detail contributes to accessibility
Each design choice prioritized accessibility—whether through simplified visuals, defined medical terms, or intuitive navigation—to support a wide range of users, including those with varying health literacy levels.
REFLECTION
Calm is a form of care
Working on Recharge Rooms during the pandemic was unlike any project I’ve taken on. It required flexibility, quick thinking, and deep empathy, not just as a designer but as someone supporting people in crisis. I learned to balance technical problem-solving with emotional awareness, creating systems that needed to function reliably and provide calm in the midst of chaos.
The rooms offered a quiet experience, but their impact was powerful. This project changed how I approach design by teaching me to move with clarity, respond with purpose, and always keep human needs at the center.
