By Adrienne Valeska
As artificial intelligence, medical data, and digital technologies become increasingly integrated into healthcare, many of the systems shaping our care remain invisible to the public. This distance can make new healthcare technologies difficult to understand and trust.
OpenCare explores how architecture can bridge this gap by making healthcare systems visible, interactive, and accessible. Rather than treating healthcare as a closed process between patients and professionals, the project uses architecture to invite the public into the systems behind care. Medical data, AI collaboration, and clinical decision-making become part of a shared spatial experience, allowing people to see how these technologies work and better understand their role in future healthcare.
Public participation is at the center of the project. Through interactive spaces and architectural experiences, people are encouraged to explore, question, and engage with healthcare technologies rather than simply receive them. Architecture becomes a tool for guiding this process, from seeing, to understanding, to participating, and ultimately to building trust.
OpenCare proposes a new model of healthcare architecture: replacing isolation with transparency and redefining care through public participation. It transforms the healthcare environment from a place where technology is hidden into an open platform where people can see, interact with, understand, and trust the systems shaping their care.
About Designer： Austin-based interior designer Yuzheng Gan, whose work explores the relationship between architecture, technology, space, and social participation. She investigates new forms of interaction between people, systems, and the built environment. Yuzheng Gan’s designs and creative work have garnered widespread attention and recognition within the industry; her projects have been invited for exhibition at the NYCx Design Festival and Dutch Design Week, and have won honors in competitions such as the NY Architectural Design Awards, London Design Awards, and A’ Design Award.