Healthcare & Hospital Design

Before any department: why a hospital is the most complex building type there is, who its many users are, the brief and the team behind it, and the evidence that design itself affects clinical outcomes.

The organising logic: hospital planning models, departments and their adjacencies, the segregated flows of patients, staff, supplies and waste, and a planning grid that lets the hospital grow.

The acute core: the emergency department, the operating theatres, diagnostic imaging, and the intensive care units - where design most directly meets life and death.

Where patients stay and are seen: inpatient wards and rooms, outpatient departments, maternity and paediatrics, and day-care and ambulatory facilities.

The engine room: laboratories and diagnostics, pharmacy and sterile services (CSSD), mortuary and clinical waste, and the dietary, laundry and stores that keep a hospital running.

Designing against the unseen: infection control by design, HVAC and clean air, surfaces and finishes, and water, sanitation and medical gases.

The point of it all: patient dignity and privacy, healing environments, wayfinding in hospitals, and the experience and efficiency of the staff who work there.

Keeping a hospital standing and running: fire and life safety in hospitals, seismic and disaster resilience, power, water and redundancy, and medical-equipment planning.

The wider family of healthcare: primary and community health, specialty and day hospitals, mental-health facilities, and elderly and long-term care.

Getting it built and approved: healthcare codes and accreditation, space programming and briefing, phasing and building on a live hospital, and commissioning and handover.

Where healthcare design is going: sustainable healthcare, the digital and smart hospital, the common healthcare-design mistakes, and becoming a healthcare architect.