Innovations In Hospital Architecture

This indispensable reference book captures key recent developments in the rapidly evolving field of sustainable hospital architecture. Today’s architects must provide hospitals which enable high quality care for diverse patient populations in carbon neutral care settings, and this book succinctly considers what needs to be done in order to meet that challenge. The contemporary hospital is viewed in the context of global climate change, the planet’s diminishing natural resources and the spiralling cost of operating healthcare facilities. Stephen Verderber considers the future of the hospital, and supplies a compendium of 100 planning and design considerations for the building type. The book includes twenty-eight case studies of built and unbuilt hospitals from around the world. These are grouped into five types - autonomous community based hospitals, children’s hospitals, rehabilitation and elderly care centres and hospitals, regional medical centre campuses, and visionary (unbuilt) projects. Beautifully and extensively illustrated with many photographs, diagrams and floor plans, this is essential reading for all architects, planners, engineers, product manufacturers, clients, healthcare providers and government agencies involved in the present and future of sustainable healthcare environments

Healthcare architecture in an era of radical transformation

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Windowness and Human Behavior in the Hospital Rehabilitation Environment.

In hospitals, patients and staff are increasingly subjected to poorly windowed rooms. Six Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Units in Chicago served as the research settings for a study of well-being as a function of personal factors and the basic functions of the window. Subjects numbered 150 and 125, respectively, for staff and patients. Using multidimensional scaling twenty cognitive dimensions of windowness were identified. Dimensions that address meaningful views, daylighting, and access to nature are highly desired. The dimensions that address windowless spaces were least preferred. The second half of the study explored well-being as a function of personal characteristics and six functions of the window of most direct consequence in rehabilitation. Certain types of patients were found to be susceptible to the effects of windowness. Close proximity to apertures that afford interesting view information, as facilitated by sufficiently low sills to afford perceptual access, is of high priority in terms of patient well-being. Patients, in general, are much more susceptible than hospital staff to the effects of insufficient involvement with the six window functions studies. By contrast, staff are better-equipped to engage in adequate compensatory measures to counter the informational deficiencies associated with poorly windowed working conditions. The findings have implications in terms of fundamental form determinants in the design of health care environments, including facility siting, scale, configuration, fenestration, and the location of internal units. Design recommendations address the informational affordances of windows in rehabilitation. Study limitations and areas warranting further investigation are discussed.Ph.D.ArchitectureHealth care managementUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/159325/1/8314222.pd

The evolving role of evidence-based research in healthcare facility design competitions

The architectural design competition remains a widely accepted method to advance design innovation, creativity, theoretical discourse, and the profession. In the realm of healthcare facility design, by contrast, clients and their sponsoring organizations seldom utilize this method. The reasons for this are many, and continue to stand in stark contrast to a growing body of evidence-based research and design (EBR&D)that is potentially of value in improving performance-based dimensions—esthetic and otherwise—of healthcare facilities globally. A comparative analysis of the entrants to a recent U.S. completion was conducted. Based on the results of this analysis, a two-phased healthcare facility design competition paradigm is put forth that is premised on the assumption that the intuitive dimensions of design creativity can be further advanced by means of a well timed and thoughtful injection of quantitatively based knowledge pertaining to patient, family, staff, and organizational concerns and priorities. This proposal׳s limitations, and future opportunities, are discussed

Bridging the Gap Between Programming and Design: Recent Experiences Teaching Health Care Studios in Architecture Schools

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