MASS Design Group

Around the world, maternal and newborn health systems are increasingly recognizing a simple but transformative idea: mothers and newborns should remain together throughout care whenever possible.

This model — known as Zero Separation — has been shown to improve bonding, breastfeeding, developmental outcomes, and newborn survival. But while healthcare systems are shifting toward more family-centered care, very little guidance exists for what these environments should actually look like spatially.

How should neonatal units change when parents are no longer treated as visitors, but as essential participants in care?

Through MASS’s Maternal & Newborn Health Lab, we recently released new design principles for Zero Separation newborn care as part of the expanded Delivering More toolkit, developed with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. The resource translates emerging care models into practical spatial guidance for maternal and newborn health facilities.

At the same time, Principal Amie Shao joined collaborators from IHI and the World Bank in a new Devex article exploring why healthcare infrastructure must be treated as a core component of global health investments.

Together, these efforts reflect a growing recognition that care models cannot fully succeed without environments designed to support them.

Explore the article and toolkit at the links in bio.

Construction is soon approaching on the New Lots Branch Library in Brooklyn — a new educational and cultural space that honors the site’s history as a formerly-underacknowledged African Burial Ground in East New York. The team recently completed performance testing on the facade mock-up, simulating a range of weather conditions as construction kicks off.

Developed with the Brooklyn Public Library, Marble Fairbanks Architects, and a host of partners, the project reimagines the public library as a palaver in the tradition of West Africa - a civic resource and a place of remembrance, healing, and community connection. The design honors buried ancestors while supporting cultural, historical, and civc learning in East New York.