Healthcare architecture: building better hospitals – how to get more for public money

The world is far off track when it comes to meeting the Paris Agreement goals of limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5˚C by 2050.. 2.

Kirsty Cobden, a member of the Business Development Team who often holds events in the atrium, says she thinks the area’s aspirational, calm atmosphere has a direct effect on patients.‘It doesn’t look like a hospital,’ she says, ‘so it puts them at ease as soon as they walk in… There’s a smell to hospitals.

Whereas when you walk in here, you’ve got the smell of the deli, of the food, of coffee.’.Martin Wood describes the concentration for the design of the hospital as being on efficiency of flow, in a way that ‘owes more to manufacturing processes, owes more to buildings that are directly about efficiency in outcome.’ However, he notes that at Circle this doesn’t compromise the user experience in the least.‘Emphasis on value,’ he says, ‘does not necessarily mean that it precludes the use of interesting architectural form.’ Rather, the opposite.

The atrium aids with facilitating natural and easy way-finding, says Wood, adding that the building’s concentration on flow efficiency, as well as the sense of legibility the space provides, actually lends itself to a reduction in stress.‘Everything is self explanatory,’ he says.

‘There is no need for signs.

It’s very evident where you might go for your consultation, or go to diagnostics, or in fact, go up to prepare for an operation…’.These projects can be seen as bespoke and are more expensive.. Bryden Wood’ response to Passivhaus’ challenges.

Bryden Wood is an industry leader in the adoption of Platforms-based Design for Manufacture and Assembly (P-DfMA) and has always shown a keen interest in the adoption of the newest and more advanced sustainability certification schemes, such as Passivhaus.. Our experience indicates that the standardisation process of P-DfMA, can be a suitable approach to counterbalance Passivhaus’ challenges described above, as follows:.Reduced design cost and complexity:.

The standardisation process reduces the number of construction elements which in turn dramatically reduces the number of elements and potential thermal bridges, making the design simpler and more cost-effective.The repeated use of the same details significantly reduces the design cost and complexity, and facilitates the achievement of Passivhaus’ thermally bridge free design ethos..