Hospital and healthy projects

MJARC Architects has developed several projects in the health area and has observed overtime that more than any other sector, hospital architecture is constant growth and change and the life span of a unit depends on its ability to adapt to different needs and, consequently, to the patient’s well-being.

Several articles have been written about future hospitals around the world. Discussions and findings include visions, roles, competence, capabilities, guidelines and the perspective of an architect. The Royal College of Physician in the United Kingdom publishes the Future Hospital Journal every three years to provide a forum for debate on the provision of secondary health services. What are the characteristics of these future hospitals and what are the challenges faced by an existing hospital that wants to become a future hospital?

The expectation for the future hospital is that it will have the ability to solve current problems, meet the ever-changing future needs of patients, and allow providers health services offer safe and high-quality care to their patients.

According to this idea, MJARC Arquitetos enumerates some trends to be considered in a hospital architecture project.

Prevent overcrowding: The last thing a patient wants to feel is claustrophobic due to the over crowded. Often, overcrowding is due to plants that respond inadequately to the flow of
expectable patients. Anticipate overcrowding by taking advantage of every inch square the layout of a room and maximizing space can go a long way in making the patient feel more comfortable
while simultaneously allowing doctors enough space to perform your job. Strategic analysis of patient waiting areas and accommodation of family members can also help to alleviate these
problems

Personalized patient rooms: customization can be extremely important for the comfort of patients when placed in an unknown environment. Being in a health facility can sometimes
cause anxiety. To that end, the hospital architecture seeks the patient’s need, more personalized rooms to reduce anxiety and increase satisfaction. Features such as patient communication boards and customizable digital signage with the patient’s name, family photos, weather forecasts and more are being incorporated into healthcare facilities.

Small inpatient units: Small-scale inpatient units are in growth. These micro-hospitals have the type of emergency room, pharmacy and laboratory, offering radiology, surgery and other services found in normal-sized hospitals.

The benefit of staying small? These facilities provide easy access to a complete set of health services for patient convenience. These local units reduce the need for to travel to larger hospitals outside of patient communities.

Recreate at home: It is often more difficult for patients, especially those on extended stays, to feel at home when they are in a health facility. When you look for traditional healthcare architecture, it can be easy to see why – white walls, light colors, fluorescent lights and sterile surfaces. To accommodate the patient’s comfort, the facilities were designed to be more hospitable, offering artwork and warmer color palettes, larger windows to allow more natural light and furniture that looks more like home decor than with industrial options cold days of antiquity.

More properties of hospital architecture

Scalable rooms: as patients can have multiple visitors at the same time, hybrid products such as sofa beds and reclining chairs can go a long way in ensuring that caregivers and visitors have the space they need, when they need it, without crowding the room. As mentioned above, overcrowding prevention is an important consideration in healthcare architecture, and the using convertible furniture is an easy design solution to make healthcare architecture work for multiple patients and their guests. Having close family and friends during recovery can make a dramatic difference, and this trend makes it easier.

Interconnection with natural spaces: The building must establish a strong relationship with the natural landscape, offering a playful play of light filtered through the vegetation. This articulation with green spaces allows patients, gardens, plants and abundant windows to open onto green grass, trees and shrubs, which light up the rooms and add a sense of serenity and calm. In addition, access to nature has been shown to improve patient recovery.

FAQ’s:

What makes the hospital architecture project a real challenge?

The hospital architecture is constantly growing and changing, this is the real challenge

What are the trends of hospital architecture?

Prevent overcrowding, customization of jumps, scalable rooms. For more information, read the
our article.