Reimagining Birth Through Design
Please join us for an evening dedicated to reimagining how we welcome life into the world. Through thoughtful design of spaces, systems, tools, and lived experiences, we can transform pregnancy, labor, and postpartum care into experiences that are more humane, equitable, and deeply supportive.
Reimagining Birth Through Design convenes leaders in health, innovation, and human-centered design to explore how creativity, collaboration, and courage can reshape maternal care. Together, we will examine how the environments we build—and the systems we sustain—profoundly influence birth outcomes, provider wellbeing, and community health.
The evening begins with an interactive Educational Expo and networking reception, creating space for connection, shared learning, and new partnerships. Presentations by Kim Holden, AIA, CABD, Founder of Doula x Design, and Deb Polzin-Rosenberg, RN, AIA, Founder of Better Birth Design, will illuminate how design can challenge outdated models and inspire more responsive approaches to care.
The program will conclude with a forward-looking conversation on Maine’s maternal health crisis and pathways toward transformation. Lisa Sockabasin, MS, RN, Co-CEO of Wabanaki Public Health & Wellness, will reflect on the power of integrating Indigenous knowledge with Western medicine to restore balance, dignity, and community-centered care. The discussion will be facilitated by Shaw Innovation Fellow Emily Battye (ABSN-Accelerated Nursing ’26).
This gathering is an invitation—to imagine differently, to learn from one another, and to build systems that honor families, strengthen providers, and nurture both human and planetary health. Together, we will spotlight promising solutions and explore culturally responsive, evidence-informed approaches that can shape the future of care in Maine and beyond.
About Kim: "I am an architect, doula, lactation counselor, design consultant, and educator. My focus is the intersection of design and birth and the impact that environment has on experiences, outcomes, disparities, and mortality, during the entire perinatal period.
Prior to founding Doula x Design, I was a Founder and the Managing Principal at , an internationally renowned architecture firm based in NYC, for over 20 years, and was the at Yale University for the 2023-2024 academic year, teaching a graduate level studio on spaces of birth.
I am trained, a (CABD), and a ). I am fluent in labor comfort and progress techniques and a Professional Member of receiving frequent continuing education on the best practices in the field. I am on the Board of Directors of , co-founder of the , and a member of the and the .
I am a registered architect (RA) in the State of New York and a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). I have participated in architectural juries at several universities including Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Yale, Art Institute of Chicago, Berkeley, and University of Maine, and lectured at University of Toronto, Wentworth Institute of Technology, and Boston Architectural College. In addition, I serve on the Advisory Board of an online magazine celebrating the extraordinary women who shape our world, as well as the Program Committee, and am Vice President of the Board.
Beyond my passion for birth and design, I enjoy my lifelong engagement in ballet and photography. I am a mother of two daughters, birthed in New York City with the unwavering support of my midwife, Yael, and my doula, Amy."
About Deb: "I began my career training to be a midwife, but the sterile labor and delivery rooms, chaotic nursing stations and incessant beeping and chiming of the hospital environment left me deeply dissatisfied with the typical U.S. birth experience—that seemed to approach even low-risk birth like an acute myocardial infarction. In fact, the Labor & Delivery unit bore a striking resemblance to an ICU. I practiced as a registered nurse (RN) for many years in women’s health until I decided to tackle birth as a design problem instead, earning a Master’s of Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). At RISD, I was awarded a travel grant to research the design of birth spaces in England and The Netherlands.
In 2015, I joined social impact architecture firm MASS, where my work focused on the intersection of design and healthcare, especially around childbirth. MASS offered me the opportunity to work from their flagship East Africa office in Rwanda, so in 2016, I packed up my family and moved to Kigali. For two years, I worked on a diverse portfolio of healthcare and birth-specific architectural projects in East Africa, including innovative maternity units for two Ministry of Health District Hospitals and a Postnatal Unit for a community health center in Malawi. I have researched and designed healthcare in both the Global South and Global North and found that despite the enormous disparity in resources, there are important lessons to be learned from both.
There is considerable variation in the design of childbirth spaces—from panopticon floorplans that maximize visual surveillance (a design borrowed from prison architecture) to a boutique birth hotel to an outdoor labor labyrinth. Within the U.S., few guidelines exist for the design of these life-altering spaces and little research addresses what works and what does not. In conversations with clinical staff and administrators, I have heard many times that facilities rarely share design successes or failures and teams charged with leading renovations feel as though they are starting from scratch. The result is that design trends without proven efficacy are perpetuated in the built environment at great expense and potential harm to patients.
Too little is known about the impact that design decisions have on birth outcomes. We do know that some important outcomes vary wildly by facility. A 2013 study found that, even after adjusting for maternal socio-demographic and clinical factors, it appears that a woman’s greatest risk factor for cesarean delivery is actually the facility where she gives birth, with cesarean rates varying between 7 and 70% of births among U.S. hospitals.* Clearly, many factors are at play in the care that women receive during childbirth; the question is how design of the facility contributes to the policies, pressures and clinical decisions that are made in the course of her birth."