I have been researching the architectural aspects of high performance healthcare for two and a half years. This work greatly influenced the design portion of this project and has also become the foundation for the rest of this thesis as a whole. Additionally, it has been a substantial part of the work that I have been doing for the Integrated Design Lab (IDL), a research arm of the College of Architecture and Urban Planning. My work with the IDL has focused on researching innovative healthcare strategies and disseminating these resources to architecture firms throughout the Puget Sound region.
A logical question that is often raised is, why healthcare? I will step back from the research for a moment to talk about why I am interested in studying healthcare. Our social perception of the hospital environment is often of an oppressive, claustrophobic, and confusing compilation of corridors, equipment, and sterility; a view that is confirmed with reality in many hospitals. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities, however, are places that we will all go at one point in our life for one reason or another. Often times we experience these environments at a point in our lives when we are in our most vulnerable state: sick, facing the unknown and unfamiliar. Not to be lost in this conversation are the staff people who spend many hours of their lives in these environments. Nurses, technicians and others work long shifts, often in conditions where they never see the light of day, get a breath of fresh air, or see a view outside.
Evidence is beginning to emerge that patient recovery and staff productivity are linked with aspects that can be manipulated by changing the architecture of the hospital. Notably, air, light, and natural views have all been attributed to decreased stress, improved healing, and a positive impact on staff error rate and retention.
Another important aspect to these ideas is the knowledge that hospitals are inherently huge energy consumers. They use the second highest amount of energy of any building type in the US (CBECS). The reasons for this are complex, but this fact deepened my question of, “how can this building type become healthier, both ecologically and socially.” Studying healthcare has particular importance in the United States since the need for this type of building is growing at a rate unmatched since the end of World War II. This growth is fueled, in part, by two factors. First, hospitals have become outdated, reaching a point where they must be replaced rather than continually remodeled. Second, our population is increasing in number and age bolstered, in-part, by the baby-boomer generation growing older. Since we are at a point where many new hospitals will replace their outmoded predecessors, we are at a critical juncture to re-evaluate this building type and its impact on human and environmental health.
