(1) Evidence-based studies suggest that the spatial qualities of the modern hospital may not most effectively engender healing, implicating designers. What might be more effective? (2) Healthcare design, once a domain of specialists, has captured the architectural imagination, resulting in a new set of projects that go beyond the programmatic and technical requirements of state-of-the-art facilities. (3) In this instance, design as a synthetic (rather than reductive) practice may yield essentially different outcomes. What does the recent attention to health in design culture demonstrate?