Healthcare Design Magazine has selected Donald Cremers as winner of the 2026 HCD 10 awards in the Interior Designer category.
Donald Cremers, IIDA, CID, EDAC, LEED AP, is a senior principal and senior project interior designer at HOK. The annual HCD 10 awards honor industry professionals and organizations across 10 categories, selecting winners who demonstrate innovation for built environments and enhance care delivery. The winners are featured in Healthcare Design Magazine’s June/July 2026 issue and will be celebrated at the 2026 HCD Forum held June 24-26 in Charleston, S.C.
Cremers joined HOK in the San Francisco studio in 2007. Today, he draws on 25 years of healthcare design experience to bring dignity, comfort and healing to projects. He recently served as interior design lead on Orange County’s only cancer specialty hospital, City of Hope, a transformative 73-bed facility that reimagines oncology care through human-centered design. Cremers addressed the unique challenges of cancer care, where patients might spend weeks or months in isolation, with hospitality-inspired amenities that create comfort in an inherently uncomfortable situation.
Across projects, Cremers creates adaptable designs to prepare healthcare environments for uncertain futures. His modular approach anticipates that technologies, staffing models and care delivery methods will transform—potentially dramatically through innovations like artificial intelligence—yet maintains aesthetic cohesion and human-centered warmth.
Beyond project delivery, Cremers is a thought leader. He continually advances the profession through speaking engagements and his leadership of HOK’s monthly healthcare design forum—a cross-disciplinary knowledge-sharing initiative that extends design excellence beyond individual projects to improve outcomes for clients, patients and industry partners.
During his career, Cremers has elevated interior design from supporting role to essential partner in creating healing environments that serve the full spectrum of human needs during vulnerable moments.