Who Says Hospitals Are Ugly? Evolution and Trends of Architectures for Health

Abstract

Access to healthcare is deeply conditioned by several social factors such as health policies and economic conditions but, undoubtedly, hospitals are recognized worldwide as the symbol of the healthcare system in its maximum complexity and they are services that will never decay. Since their origins, they represent the social community and, in the socio-cultural context, the original values of interdependence and solidarity. They embody the permeability and availability of entertainment and cultural activities in order to respond to the community’s needs. Starting from the evolution of hospital design, currently healthcare facilities are spaces for care but they also host research and education areas, workplaces, public spaces, etc. As healing places, they require specific considerations in the project design to mitigate the sense of isolation and disorientation, to ease concerns and promote health. As the Scientific Community highlighted, nowadays the quality of spaces plays a key-role in the medical processes, contributing both to improve the experience and comfort perceived by users and to improve the efficiency of staff. For this reason, hospital planners and stakeholders are called to act and to give rise to user-centred system in terms of comfort, efficiency, organizational and operational effectiveness, with an evidence based design approach. Therefore, the scope of this contribution is to argue the evolution of these architectures and to pinpoint the current trends of healthcare design regarding different fields of interest such as building typologies and functional layouts, sustainability, flexibility, soft qualities, innovative materials and the relationship with green.