26 May 2011

Hospital Design ~ Optimizing Amid Constraints

Having spent far too much time in hospitals lately, I'm keenly aware of their positive and negative qualities. So it's interesting to read Chronicle urban design critic John King's recent piece Bay Area hospitals keep getting bigger about the latest in new designs...
"Hospitals are very program driven -- it's all about what's inside the building," said Ratcliff principal Tom Patterson. "At the same time, you want it to be a nice piece of architecture. That's a challenge." It's a challenge with no easy solution in already developed neighborhoods and cities where expansion space is cramped. There's also the push for more centralized facilities. [...] When we're inside a hospital, we want every conceivable service close at hand. When we're outside, we want it to defer to its surroundings. The conundrum? We can't always have both.
Here's the photo gallery of recent examples...

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