Healthcare design expert Herminia Machry joins KU interior architecture faculty

The University of Kansas School of Architecture & Design has announced that Herminia Machry will join KU beginning in the fall 2022 semester as assistant professor of interior architecture.  

Machry’s education began in Brazil, where she earned both Bachelor and Master’s degrees in architecture and urban planning. As she focused her interests on healthcare design, she began teaching at universities throughout Sao Paulo. She then earned her PhD in Planning, Design & the Built Environment at Clemson University, where she became a researcher and lecturer in evidence-based design and healthcare design. 

In the past 18 years, Machry has worked as a design practitioner on numerous healthcare facility projects. She focuses her research on improving design to ensure better safety, engagement, and cognition outcomes within healthcare environments. More specifically, her studies are aimed at understanding how the layout and interior design of settings such as ICUs and operating rooms can impact flow disruptions, risky behaviors, social interactions, and ergonomics. Machry’s most valuable contributions to evidence-based design and healthcare design have been related to the design of operating rooms, neonatal ICUs (NICUs), and, more recently, the design of doffing spaces at ICUs treating COVID-19 patients. 

At KU, Machry will focus on informed design with her students, as well as continuing with her research while working alongside the KU Institute of Health + Wellness Design. She has a goal of including her students in the Pulse Design Group Simulation Lab, where students will explore designing and building three dimensional simulations for a hands-on design experience.  

“Dr. Machry is a great addition to the young but strong Interior Architecture program in the School of Architecture & Design,” said Director of Interior Architecture Nisha Fernando. “She brings a strong research background on healthcare design along with many other emphases. We are very excited to welcome her to our IA team.”