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Architect-Doula Kim Holden on Birth as a Design Challenge

How birth environments impact maternal experiences—and what we can do about it

Maternal death rates are staggering in the U.S.

 Kim is featured as a subject-matter expert on architects' potential to improve birth environments and postpartum resources for  women and their families. 

Designing Delivery: An Examination of the the Intersection of Design and Birth 

How does environment affect birth experiences, outcomes, disparities and mortality?

On Being a Doula by Design / Kim Holden

In this bonus episode, we speak to Kim Holden, whose change of careers has been unconventional and courageous at the same time. She was a founder, managing principal and architect at the renowned SHoP Architects and decided to become a doula after 20 years of practice. We speak to Kim about her initiative Doula x Design and how she helps people during pregnancy, labor, birth and postpartum.

(left image: Kate Randall)

From a place of purpose and gratitude, Kim  intertwines the layers of her life as the framework to expand how she creates spaces in the world

Converging design, birth work and advocacy, she empowers women in the perinatal process, and seeks to improve the design of birth environments.

Doula by Design

Kim Holden on Her New Practice, Birth Empowerment, and Advocating for Women and Girls

Why Birth is a Design Problem

Can rethinking and redesigning the ways  birth is approached shift the outcomes of labor and birth experiences?  Can it be instrumental in improving our qualities of life--in our  environments, in cities, and beyond? Kim joins us to explore how she sees birth as a design problem.

Minding the Silver Linings: 

Perspectives on Designing  Life & Space

A conversation with Kim on the importance of support systems, the mission of her practice 

Doula x Design, the impact of the pandemic on the birthing experience.

Childbirth is a Design Problem

Kim Holden left her high-powered career at the prestigious architecture firm SHoP. Now a doula, she wants to bring design thinking into the labor and delivery room.

Let's Talk:  Women's Month

Kim talks with Lella Anders and Olivia Vedder, founders of Let's Talk, about what a doula does, how to learn more about birth choice and advocacy, as well as why our school systems should make drastic changes to health education.