Roundtree Visuals Wins Award from the Design & Health International Academy for Work on St. John's Health Center

    EMERYVILLE, CA, June 11, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Roundtree Visuals of Emeryville, California was honored with the Design and Health International Academy Award at a ceremony on June 8, 2010 in Toronto, Canada at the organization's annual conference. The award recognized Roundtree Visuals' design of the Saint John's Health Center Welcome Artwall, winning in the "Best Use of Art in the Patient Environment" category.

Roundtree Visuals designed a Digital Art Program at the Santa Monica, CA hospital in the dining court of the hospital's new Keck Center building. The digital exhibit features a Community Art Gallery to showcase local artists, community art organizations and schools. Over 2,500 artwork submissions and personal photographs were submitted to become part of the Digital Photomosaic Artwork. Additional programming and imagery were developed and help tie the hospital to the community. The innovative program merges video and digital art on a 17 foot Digital Artwall. In addition, content streams to public, patient and staff areas, and is shown on a hospital TV channel serving 221 patient rooms.

In this sensory art experience, high tech art merges with natural imagery and ambient sounds such as leaves in the wind, or birds chirping. Comments from hospital visitors include, "I could feel my blood pressure drop when I entered the space" and "I feel so connected to the people here". According to Maura Winesburg of Saint John's Health Center: "The benefit of the Artwall is a realized advantage where everyone feels a sense of ownership. Through an engaging art experience, the hospital is connected to the community and the community to the hospital."

The program was initially developed as a cost saving alternative to a traditional community art gallery in the hospital. The digital medium reduces maintenance efforts and decreases environmental impact by eliminating framing, painting and repairing walls. The Welcome Artwall software design allows information to be easily updated online, continually providing a fresh visitor experience. To offset costs, exhibition themes such as "Think Green" are designed to attract corporate sponsors. It is the first of its kind digital art program for healthcare in the U.S.

About Roundtree Visuals

Creative Director Deborah Roundtree is a multimedia producer and fine art consultant building on 20 years of advertising experience with Fortune 500 companies. Deborah founded Roundtree Visuals to provide clients with new and more compelling, cost effective and strategic ways to use art for branding. Roundtree Visuals brings mixed media into client environments and integrates diorama, panoramic video technology, and the Internet to create one-of-a-kind displays and installations. View a portfolio of Artwall examples at www.roundtreevisuals.com, or see a video display at http://roundtreevisuals.com/content/popup/client/Demo_HP_Ineractive.html.

About the Design and Health International Academy

The Design and Health International Academy is the world's leading advocacy program, recognizing professional excellence in the research and practice of designing healthy environments.

The biannual awards program has a significant influence on the global design of humanistic environments that support health, wellbeing and quality of life, reflecting important aspects of the exceptional work undertaken by researchers and practitioners at the forefront of the field of design & health.

The awards are open to international organizations in both the private and public sectors participating in either research or practice, including the planning, procurement, design, construction and management of healthy environments.

The judging panel is constructed from a group of independent experts from Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Americas. Experts in their field, the judges come from multi-disciplinary backgrounds in research and practice, bringing with them a breadth of experience in their field.

Recipients of the awards are teams and individuals who through outstanding efforts have contributed to the progress of knowledge and demonstrated vision and leadership in exemplary initiatives within the field.

Contact:
Kimeri Opacic
925/926-0593
[email protected]

Deborah Roundtree
510/653-3300
[email protected]

# # #