The time has come to heal the hospital. Or so thought Suzen Heeley, who holds the unusual position of in-house design and construction director. "For the first time ever," Heeley says, "I was my own client." Her 300,000-square-foot facility is applying for LEED certification, integrating state-of-the-art technology with compassionate care. Private patient rooms are furnished with flat-screen monitors, wireless keyboards, and guest accommodations. And forget about those dreary old hospital gowns. Green cotton versions by Nicole Miller look good enough to take home.

Center for Women and Infants, Dover, Delaware

DESIGN EwingCole.

STANDOUT A skylit spiral stair with frosted-glass balustrades brings sunshine into this part of the Bayhealth Medical Center.

Sun City Takarazuka, Japan

DESIGN BAR Architects; Babey Moulton Jue & Booth.

STANDOUT This retirement community's public spaces are integrated vertically, with all residential units close to a dining facility.

Barrow Neurological Institute Patient Care Tower, Phoenix

DESIGN Perkins + Will.

STANDOUT At St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, glass brings light into a rotunda while shielding a service corridor behind.