The Adorner: On ACP and Healthcare Design

#ArchiSpeak

Based out of Delhi and Hong Kong, Creative Designer is a two-decade-old architectural firm which is known to create benchmarks in healthcare designs.

On the evolved healthcare design

From a place where people used to go just to get treated, healthcare has evolved over the years into a place where people go to get benefitted in multifarious ways.

Hence, healthcare design too has evolved over the years. It is more to do with a person’s well-being nowadays than just treatment. Many new materials have come in, which have somehow enhanced healthcare design. 20 years back, we didn’t have materials that could give a seamless finish required in sterility areas, and we had to ponder over how the joints could be sealed properly so that no space is left for the bacteria to breed in.

However, with the advance of technology, we have got materials which can enable seamless finish, and that has contributed a lot towards improvement in healthcare design.

Circulation of people within a healthcare space is very important

Patients who are coming in for the first time must have the first right of the entrance, and they should be able to get in without much effort. Which means that there shouldn’t be any difference in levels. They move around at the same level they alight at, and the transition from one level to another is very smooth through lifts and other systems.

The healthcare providers are divided into different categories, like nurses, male and female staff of other departments, and of course, doctors. They have different entries, and they move into their respective zones comprising dress rooms where they can change. From there, they move into their separate places through the entries segregated for them. It never happens that they use the areas meant for the patients to cross over. That is the kind of circulation we have to plan.

The other thing to consider is the difference in circulation pattern of the people coming in for treatment at the Outpatient department and those who are admitted to the Inpatient department.

Now the diagnostic departments are common for both types of patients and the circulation has to be planned in a way so that, besides being equally served, the OPD patients don’t get to see the IPD patients – how they are wheeled in etc. – as it’s not good for them psychologically. The basement and all are meant for different services, the mortuary and so on. The mortuary is designed in a way that the body is taken out without anybody having to see it. So all these little things contribute towards creating an environment that ensures overall wellness of people for which, along with other things, psychology is factored in as well.

On optimization in healthcare design

In the days gone by, we used to provide about 1000 sq. ft. per bed in a hospital. Over the years hospital sizes have started shrinking, which has put pressure on us designers to experiment with space limits between 700 and 900 sq. ft. Such optimization has been made possible by technology getting better, machines getting smaller, and we getting better as well in terms of planning or getting more options of materials etc. Apart from this, energy optimization is a very important factor.

We do various studies to work out ways to reduce energy consumption through HVAC, machines etc.

The advance of technology has helped a lot in this regard for e.g. you now have solar panels that can heat the water at night as well. Also, the most important energy that I would like to tell you about is the human energy, something for which we architects are directly responsible. We need to make sure that the person who is providing healthcare, does that by expending the minimum amount of energy.

Sterile and non-sterile areas in a hospital have different demands.

A seamless surface can be more effectively sterilized as well. So for the sterile areas, we have to stick to the parameter of providing a seamless finish. There are also restrictions in the choice of colours in the areas meant for patient care. The doctor wants to see the thermometer or the skin in its actual colour, without being coloured by any artificial light.

In a seamless surface, bacteria has much less chance to find crevices to breed in.

However, in non-sterile or public areas we can experiment with different finishes like rustic, porous, or textured finishes and with different colours as well.

On ACP and healthcare design

ACP plays a major role in giving a seamless finish. The material has evolved over the years from being a material meant for just exterior use, to a material with a wide array of colours, textures and finishes, which we as architects find very exciting.

We can now experiment with the material in different places and situations and create the desired mood. It has got exciting possibilities. We want patients to feel being one with nature, and rustic, sand, timber or other natural finishes give that feel to the patients. Sand etc., can be used as accent walls in patient rooms to break the monotony.

Each colour affects psychology in its own way. Like black is very depressing. Red agitates the patients. So using specific colours at specific places is very important. We as architects, are not very amenable to plastic or shiny finishes.