NBBJ and Stanford University's Dr. Kevin Schulman, MD, Partner to Rethink Hospital Design for the Age of AI
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- NBBJ is partnering with Dr. Kevin Schulman, MD, a Stanford physician, health economist and professor, to explore how advances in AI and new models of care delivery will reshape hospital design.
The partnership comes at a critical moment. Hospitals are planning multibillion-dollar campuses that will operate for decades, even as AI, automation and distributed care make it increasingly difficult to predict how future care will be delivered. The challenge is not simply how to integrate today's technology, but how to make long-term real estate investments flexible enough to evolve with what comes next.
The collaboration brings together Schulman's research at the intersection of medicine, business and technology with NBBJ's experience designing some of the world's leading healthcare environments.
"This has been an exciting project to consider how technology will change the practice of medicine and the physical environment supporting the practice. It's exciting to think about how data and workflows will change in response to the revolution in AI. Anticipating how the physical environment will shift requires a more expansive perspective on the future of medicine. NBBJ has been a great partner as we iterate through these exciting challenges," says Dr. Kevin Schulman, MD, Professor of Medicine, Stanford University.
Schulman is a Professor of Medicine and, by courtesy, Professor of Operations, Information and Technology at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. His recent work examines the integration of AI into clinical workflows and new economic models for AI-enabled care.
NBBJ brings complementary expertise in healthcare design and innovation. The firm partners with 75% of the U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals Honor Roll and has helped leading health systems pioneer approaches to prefabrication, modular and universal planning, resilience and sustainable healthcare design.
Through lectures, working sessions and design explorations, Schulman and NBBJ are addressing challenges such as information overload, patient flow, rising costs, workforce pressures and the migration of care beyond the hospital.
"AI is changing how care is delivered, how clinicians work, and how hospitals operate, with real implications for the buildings and campuses our clients are planning today. This partnership brings together Dr. Schulman's medical, technological and financial expertise with NBBJ's track record in design innovation to better understand those implications and help our clients make informed decisions about what comes next," says Ryan Hullinger, Partner, NBBJ.
NBBJ and Schulman will begin sharing early insights with healthcare clients this fall, with the program continuing more broadly through 2027.
SOURCE NBBJ
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