Hospital Renovation Techniques
Hospital design has come a long way in the last decade. Architects have been improving hospital design aspects each year providing us with new techniques that will help to improve the experiences of those involved with healthcare and reduce the impact of the building on the environment. This report will not be focusing on building new structures, but rather how we can improve existing structures through renovation to make them more comfortable, safe, and sustainable.
The first step in this research project will be to gather as much research as will be necessary on the designs of different hospitals and compare them to determine what works best. A collection of testimonies from nurses to patients will also be studied to help determine the design aspect through different points of view. A floor plan will be drawn at this point to represent the proposed design and show how the building will result in the three goals stated above: comfort, safety, and sustainability. The drawing will act as a base of knowledge that will show how this design can be achieved in a new development. The next step will be to focus on how we can implement this design template into an already existing building.
The project will need to have an in-depth look of an existing hospital design. The hospital chosen for this will be Mills Memorial hospital in Terrace B.C. The hospital will be assessed to see to which extent it meets or falls short of the three goals mentioned above. From here the report will continue on to focus on designing and incorporating new technologies for the renovation.
There are plenty of new technologies that can be incorporated into the renovation. A selection list will be made of the most practical and cost effective methods for updating the existing hospital. Many aspects will be taken into account at this point in the report. Aspects such as sound control, light control, toxin levels, privacy, and long term sustainability will be looked at independently with respect to the view point of an architect, a patient , and a healthcare worker.
The final outcome of the report will be a set of drawings that will effectively show how it is possible to take an existing hospital design and incorporate feature that will bring an older hospital up to date with more modern hospitals. The report will act as a template that can be applied to multiple hospitals, not just Mills Memorial. The report also includes an estimation of the renovation cost and therefore the ability to determine if it is worth it to renovate or more economically sensible to tear down an aging hospital in favour of constructing a new one.
References for this abstract can be found in sidebar to the right.
1 comments:
This is an ambitious research plan! You have a clear application of the research, but I wonder if you may be biting off a bit too much. Perhaps it would be more practical and just as beneficial to look at an individual room (as they are often all the same in hospitals) to see what can be improved? Cost information may be difficult to determine, so I would not make this a major focus of your report, but certainly comfort, safety and sustainability are the real important aspects. Some might say that we should not make our hospitals too nice or people will not want to leave, but I think they should at least be nicer than our penitentiaries.
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