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Building Types – Healthcare

Light, health, sleep, and the buildings you live in

      The Light Therapeutic – article on current research into the effects of light on health, with far-reaching implications for the design of buildings and cities, especially healing environments. What is most startling is the way our bodies respond to light. Gloomy winter days are known to trigger …

Color-filled hospital based on modular design

      The Colours at Martini Hospital in Groningen –  architect Arnold Burger of SEED architects and interior designer Bart Vos worked with color artist Peter Struycken to develop a palette of 47 colors for this new hospital in the Netherlands.   The organization of the hospital was deliberately …

Lullaby Factory for children’s hospital

  Sculptural pipes play secret lullabies to entertain hospital patients – the kids at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital are in for a treat, an “audio-playground for the young patients.” The Lullaby Project (check out the drawings and the backstory) was developed by architects at Studio Weave and sound artist Jessica Curry.  Sculpture?  Sound …

Use of water in healthcare

  How Healthcare Uses Water – page on the website of Practice Greenhealth with statistics on water use in health care facilities and links at the bottom to further information on how to reduce water use in hospital and other medical environments.   Healthcare facilities consistently fall within the top ten consumers …

Light, sleep, melatonin, and cancer

    Blue light has a dark side, an article from Harvard Medical School, and a 12-min video clip of Russel J. Reiter, M.D. PhD of University of Texas talking about Melatonin’s role in Cancer are both worth your time, especially if you’re involved in the design of healthcare facilities. The …

Accountable Design for Accountable Care

  Accountable Design for Accountable Care – from McGraw-Hill Research Foundation and HOK, a 20-p PDF that looks at healthcare design and the Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act (PPACA).  Image here is from p. 3 and illustrates typical acute care unit configurations.   …  illustrates how healthcare design impacts accountable …

Architects, architecture, and the effects of sound

  Why architects should use their ears more – June 2012 TED talk by sound expert Julian Treasure on the physiological, social, psychological, and behavioral effects of sound.   In this short talk, Treasure demonstrates how statistics reflect the sound qualities of space.  The louder the spaces, such as hospitals, …

Thinking about hospital design

  Check out the series of articles in Healthcare Design – “Research in Practice” – written by healthcare design researchers at HOK, Nick Watkins and Erin Peavey.  It offers practical advice for anyone in a position to make decisions regarding the design of a hospital or healthcare facility. Research in Practice: …

Hospitals grow their own produce?

    Henry Ford Hospital West Bloomfield greenhouse producing food – and wellness – about hospital’s new $1 million hydroponic greenhouse. Dozens of kinds of vegetables and herbs — five types of kale, 23 kinds of tomatoes, five varieties of basil, eggplants, squash, hot and sweet peppers, fresh herbs, microgreens and …

Positive neurological effects of sky photos

    Texas Tech’s College of Human Sciences is partnering with Sky Factory Australia to study the “effects of virtual skylights on hospital patients.” The initial study will generate brain maps of the neural pathways and regions associated with patient’s perception of the SkyCeilings™ unique imagery. Read about it in …

Culturally responsive healthcare delivery

    Bridging the Empathy Gap – Metropolis POV post by HOK’s Henry Chao on the trend towards the “globalization of Western medicine” and its effect on the design of healthcare facilities around the world. This trend is forcing the convergence of scientific treatment with culturally responsive delivery. I call this “bridging …

Healthy hospital study

  Healthy Hospital Study Finds Savings in Plain Sight – a nine-hospital study from the Health Care Research Collaborative finds plenty of savings in waste management, energy use, and operating room supply procurement. “This study turns on its head the belief that introducing environmental sustainability measures increases operating costs,” said …

People love blue / Structural blue

    Fascinating article from The New York Times, True Blue Stands Out in an Earthy Crowd, with observations of interest to designers: In healthcare: Sick children like their caretakers in blue: A recent study at the Cleveland Clinic found that young patients preferred nurses wearing blue uniforms to those …