Michelle Trott, AIA, NCARB, ACHA is advancing patient recovery through compassionate design.
She hadn’t planned on becoming a healthcare architect, but she landed her first job with a firm that specialized in medical design—around the same time, her father underwent a liver transplant, and Trott quickly realized that care facilities often fail to meet patients’ critical comfort needs.
“Visiting him in the hospital, I began to grasp the impact that physical layouts can have on our overall wellbeing, and I wanted to implement thoughtful changes that would benefit both him and the staff,” she said.
Now, as CPL’s Pennsylvania and Western New York Healthcare Practice Leader, Trott does just that. Spearheading a range of complex renovation and new construction projects, she works with clients to envision spaces that help people live longer, fuller lives, and her personal focus on wellness solidifies her commitment to the field.
But Trott never imagined the crucial role healthcare would play in her own life. While on vacation 10 years ago, her then 8-year-old daughter Ashley developed a bacterial infection and went into toxic shock. She spent a month in the hospital (with some of that time on life support), and Trott never left her side.
During their hospital stay, Trott observed the ways staff, patients and visitors interacted within the building; how or where they washed their hands, where they stood and even where they ate. These impressions greatly influenced her approach to healthcare design.
If you asked about her favorite project to date, she’d refer to the Sands Constellation Center for Critical Care, a $260M undertaking that involved designing a seven-story tower with a wide range of comprehensive care units. Trott drew firsthand insight from Ashley’s hospital experience to augment the tower’s layout, lighting and acoustics, and added TVs, charging stations and other practical accommodations for patients and visitors alike.
“We utilized sustainable resources for the building materials and systems in the tower,” said Trott. “Steering clients away from selecting materials that contain harmful chemicals such as PCBs or formaldehyde is something we take very seriously, especially in a healthcare setting.”
Aside from advancing health through design at CPL, Trott serves on the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Academy of Architecture for Health (AAH) board. She also extends her wellness mindset to the planet with a leadership role on CPL’s Sustainable Design Team, preparing resilient designs that reduce energy use, promote carbon reduction and achieve peak performance.
Today, Ashley is a healthy 18-year-old studying sustainable design at the University of Maryland. Trott’s family harbor an even deeper appreciation for life and family, and she continues to apply knowledge gleaned from their harrowing experience toward promoting sustainable design practices that enhance quality of life while protecting the environment.
“We can’t save the world overnight,” said Trott. “But working together, we can drive meaningful, lasting change.”
Pictured above: Michelle Trott with her daughter, Ashley, husband, Brian, and son, Brandon.
