The Architectural Design of Hospital Buildings: An Important Concern

In the case of a hospital, who is in charge of the interior design planning process? Traditionally, an architect. But a good team composition is when the medical technologist coordinates the design disciplines, various structures and systems are implemented according to his needs.

There are examples when an engineer develops a bad architecture, for example, the ventilation system does not meet the requirements of the facility, or when even after renovation, a hospital building or part of it is considered faulty or outdated because the building is old and simply cannot be made better and more modern.

It is also true that medical technology and the need for patient care are evolving rapidly, and these expectations can only be met today if the building can flexibly adapt to new needs with the help of accomplished and leading Hospital Construction Companies in India.

If a building is constructed with rigid structures and inelastic systems, it cannot be adapted to current changes in demand.

Each building will sooner or later become old-fashioned because new tasks, new needs, new professions, new procedures will inevitably appear- this is true for diagnostics, therapy, inpatient and outpatient treatment.

Due to the constant development of medical technology, institutions are constantly in need of transformation. However, the design of the hospitals requires real teamwork. The role, tasks, and involvement of each field designer at each stage of planning is different.

Who is needed at every stage of the design: a medical technologist and an architect. A medical technologist is needed from the first minute.

An experienced and skilled Hospital Architect in India always coordinates all solutions with a medical technologist so that the healthcare facility that will be built will serve the people working in it well. There are many ways to design and construct a building for a wide range of patient care needs.

There is no doubt that there is a great need for new modern medical institutions in which the highest level of medical care for all groups of diseases will be available.

In addition, the importance of the surrounding area around the medical facility should not be overlooked.

Today, unfortunately, investing quickly runs out of money, and by the time we get to landscaping, the budget is usually in the red. Yet the new facility does need green surfaces for patients to walk around because hospitals need a pleasant environment.

Compliance with constant flexibility and change should be ensured and systematic approaches need to be followed for having a suitable interior design that meets new service needs along with applying new technical standards.

Systematic planning principles in interior design should be suitable for the rapid change of future hospital requirements and at the same time, they should be able to become flexible multi-purpose spaces.

Hospital architecture and interior design philosophy requires being associated with the world and nature, starting with a sense of hospitality. A hospital facility made in consultation with Hospital Designers in India provides a safe and comfortable environment for patients along with reducing stress and confusion for patient families and staff. A successful design must recognize the need for efficient operation and the importance of living standards alongside art and technology.

How to Give Your Hospital a Different Look and Enhanced Functionality?

The patients’ interest in beautiful objects and nature outside the window is a sign of recovery. The monotony of hospital wards is as oppressive to the patient’s brain as the monotonous food is to his stomach. The variety of shapes, the shining colors of the objects surrounding the patients, are a real means of restoring them.

When a person goes to a hospital, his mind perceives it as a place where he will be helped to heal. But the patient’s body reacts as if he was trapped, in captivity.

In psychology and psychiatry, the term “sensory deprivation” is used to describe the syndrome that occurs when there is a prolonged absence of signals from the senses.

Sometimes the morale of a patient in a hospital isolation ward is not much different from the morale of a criminal in solitary confinement.

Today, Hospital Architects in India try to avoid uniformity in design when designing hospitals. Hospitals have been undergoing a truly revolutionary transformation over the past couple of decades.

In private clinics, change began early. Private hospitals, competing with each other, must win clients not only by the professionalism of practicing specialists but also by the conditions, all raising the bar.

The progress in the movement from the experimental-punitive approach to the humanistic one is most noticeable when we consider the transformation of psychiatric clinics.

When designing children’s hospitals, Hospital Construction Companies in India actively experiment with color. Sometimes faith in color therapy remains almost the last chance, a desperate attempt to influence the health of young patients and instill hope for recovery in children and their parents.

Light and color

Bright light can damage the retina in newborns, while older people need more intense lighting. Someone perceives red and orange colors in the interior positively, but in people with mental disorders, they can provoke anxiety attacks.

It is no coincidence that the white color of the classic hospital interior is called “sterile” – it was chosen due to the high requirements for hygiene.

White is as functional as possible, since any dirt, any foreign body is noticeable against its background. White textiles withstand high-temperature decontamination.

Over time, cleaning technology has moved to the next level, and scientific research has proven that uniform white interiors cause sensory starvation in patients.

Choosing the right colors and lighting can be compared to a difficult quest since perception and response differ among children and the elderly, people with visual or mental disabilities.

The designer has to please everyone, while not forgetting the functional role of lighting, as well as energy efficiency. There are no simple recipes for designing lighting scenarios and color schemes that will satisfy everyone.

Below are some of the general recommendations given by Hospital Architects in India that you can take into account when choosing colors for your hospital:

  • Do not use blue in cardiology departments, as it complicates the diagnosis.
  • For the same reason, in maternity wards, yellow should be avoided – it can interfere with the identification of jaundice in newborns
  • And in psychiatric and dermatological clinics it is better to abandon the use of “active” colors – orange and red.
  • Signs should be included in the overall color scheme, prominently displayed and well lit.

If your hospital is lagging behind in any area, be it the design, architecture, or equipment, we suggest you to turn to Astron Healthcare, one of the Hospital Equipment Companies and Hospital Construction Companies in India.

Importance of Ward Design With an Eye on Future Changes

Of course, it is important to prepare the equipment environment when building a hospital, but it may be difficult to succeed in long-term clinic management and Medical Equipment Planning if you think only about the immediate future.

Importance of Ward Design

This is because buildings are always aging, and designing with an eye on the future makes it easier to adapt to subsequent changes.

Therefore, it is necessary to consider a variable ward so that the hospital can be smoothly reorganized according to future changes and growth from the time the hospital was designed. To ensure that your hospital is designed and constructed in the correct way, you should turn to Hospital Construction Companies in India.

Hospital design in anticipation of aging is important

The functions of hospitals are roughly divided into five departments. These are:

  1. Outpatient department with diagnostic function,
  2. Medical department with treatment function,
  3. Ward department with nursing care function,
  4. Management department for management and operation of the entire hospital and welfare of staff, function maintenance
  5. It is the supply/equipment department that is involved in the storage and supply of necessary energy, food, materials, etc. and the treatment of industrial waste.

Regarding the area allocation of each department, the ratio of “medical department” is high in high-performance hospitals such as public hospitals and university hospitals, and the ratio of “ward department” is high in hospitals that mainly provide medical treatment.

With the diversification and sophistication of examinations and treatments, there are many cases where large-scale examination equipment is installed in small and medium-sized hospitals, and a large space is required. As the number of patients increases, it may be necessary to expand the “outpatient department”.

Hospital designs that enable efficient operation are required in response to changes in the environment and needs surrounding these hospitals, but buildings are always aging and user needs are constantly changing.

In order to be a hospital that can flexibly respond to changes in the times and the environment, it is ideal to make a plan with an eye on 10 to 20 years from now, and then consider the management after that.

Planning to succeed in hospital design

If the hospital is not designed for the future when it is newly built, it may cost unexpectedly when it is expanded or remodelled. The same is true for relocation, and the important thing in hospital design is “designing with the front loading method.”

Front loading means that the work is advanced ahead of schedule by carrying the load in the initial process corresponding to the front. Generally, it is an expression that refers to “creating quality at the initial stage of product development.”

If you plan to implement this idea in your hospital, it will be important to calculate the estimated construction cost with high accuracy after making a variable design with an eye on future expansion and renovation in addition to the function and design at the planning stage. To get help in this regard, it will be better for you to contact Hospital Designers in India. The accuracy of this estimated construction cost may greatly affect the budget for expansion and renovation several decades later, and if the accuracy is low, unexpected expenses will be incurred. It can also put pressure on future hospital management.

How a Good Hospital Building Plan Affects Hospital Environment

Patient safety is the differentiating element of health institutions today, based on the development of the Patient Safety Culture, which is the maximum expression of the alignment of care and administrative processes focused on the patient and his/her family. To ensure proper health care to its patients, a hospital needs to have a good architecture, which can only be obtained by contacting experienced Hospital Construction Companies in India.

How a Good Hospital Building Plan Affects Hospital Environment

The intention to achieve a safe care environment in hospitals is complemented by evidence-based design practices, which add value to the building, reduce operating costs and contribute to the recovery of the patient. Taking into account that the surgical service is the heart of a health organization, it is necessary to plan and design your hospital with Hospital Designers in India, which in turn, allows maximizing productivity and improving the patient’s experience from quality to comfort.

Hospital design has evolved rapidly and incorporates elements and concepts to respond to the needs of patients, families and healthcare workers. But for several years now, the intention to achieve a safe healthcare environment has been complemented by evidence-based design practices, which add value to the building, reduce operating costs, contribute to patient recovery and significantly reduce the impact of hospital spaces on the care model and the business model.

The objective is to design spaces that improve the way we work; on real evidence, not on assumptions or intuitions. It links the psychosocial aspects of the worker with the design and management of the workspace, allowing greater well-being to be achieved. This will establish the possibilities of movement of people with the consequent ability to generate encounters and facilitate social interaction. The location within the plant will have tangible effects on the movement patterns of people; the ladder is an integrating element.

The number of floors will be a factor capable of influencing the interaction between employees. The number of floors affects accessibility and communication within the workspace.

The implementation and development of an operating room project represents a challenge for the professionals and designers involved, for which the following considerations must be taken:

Plan: Know current needs and focus on care e.g.: Cardiology or Neurology.        

Analyse the space that is required for the construction of the project. Defining for this the portfolio of specialties and procedures to offer in the short and medium term. Know what technology providers exist for these projects; Alignment with technology providers will help avoid pre-installation cost overruns.

Design the 3D modelling once the technology provider has been chosen. This will avoid reprocessing and we will be sure that the functionalities and integration possibilities between the different technologies will be real and we will not depend on hypotheses or assumptions.

Get the final design to build. This should be available well in advance so that overlaps or technical challenges can be anticipated.

Build, choose a suitable construction company; this is fundamental, the health environment requires proven experience but also surety from the point of view of compliance with regulations, local and international technical standards and operational efficiencies.

A view of Hospital Designers in India on designing the Intensive Care unit

The ICUs began their care when it became clear that patients with acute illnesses could be better cared for if they were grouped in specific areas of the hospital. And hence, it becomes important for hospital owners to take help of experienced Hospital Construction Companies in India so that the hospital can become helpful to its patients so that they can heal in a better environment.

The result of several studies ensures that there is a direct relationship between the patient’s recovery and the environment perceived through the architectural design and Hospital Building Plan.

Over time this section of hospital has continued to evolve more and more with increasingly clear functional, structural and organizational objectives in order to guarantee the appropriate safety, quality and efficiency conditions to care for patients susceptible to recovery.

So the architectural challenge consists of humanizing the spaces, moving away from the hospital perception, thus making the patient feel in a comfortable environment as a good design can also intervene in the patient’s healing.

Below, we will list some of the important things suggested by professionals that must be taken into account when designing the ICU in order to make the patients feel comfortable during the treatment:

1. Natural light

Natural light is essential for the healing process of patients inside the ICU, having openings to the outside, with sliding windows or fixed glass (with the possibility of darkening and tinting of sunlight) as a basic element to allow the recovery of patient through natural light, the day and night cycle, maintaining the circadian rhythm of the admitted patient. Sleep deprivation produces delirium, confusion and emotional disturbances, negatively affecting the recovery of the patient.

2. Exterior views

Having views to the outside and especially if it is to the nature that the ICU unit has, allows the patient to look outside as a positive distraction system, reducing stress and calming their anxieties that could produce negative values ​​in the process recovery, but an outside view may be especially important to conscious patients.

3. Noise reduction

One of the main reasons for complaints from patients in the ICU is the noise level of the environment that, especially at night, prevents patients from resting.

To minimize noise levels inside the unit, the alarms must be modulated and decisions on the materials of the finishes (floors, walls and ceilings) that must have high acoustic absorption and at the same time consider the characteristics related to maintenance, cleaning and control of nosocomial infection.

4. Patient safety

At the time of designing the unit, counteracting infections in order to offer safety to patients should be a high priority and for this we must start by combating the most vulnerable points of contamination focus since they are those that are generally touched with the hands.

It is recommended that the faucets of the sinks and bathrooms are with sensors and controls to avoid the touch of the healthcare personnel. The door handles must be made of antimicrobial materials. So, these are some of the issues that should be considered at the time of designing an ICU, however, to achieve success in this regard, the best option is to Hospital Designers in India.

Rooms Criteria Provides by Health Care Equipment & Services Companies?

The Hospital Construction Companies in India has developed specific know-how in the design and construction of public and private hospitals, clinics and nursing homes as well as in the redevelopment and modernization of existing structures.

Rooms Criteria Provides by Health Care Equipment & Services Companies

The numerous works carried out have allowed them to develop in-depth experiences in the design and construction of hospital sectors with a high concentration of technology, such as image departments, operating blocks, intensive care and conventional radiotherapy.

Space distribution and standard furnishings of a hospital room

Among the minimum supplies of furniture components for hospital wards are prescribed beds, cradles for babies and fixed sanitary furnishings for the toilets. Configurations can be single – stay or multiple-stay.

In the latter case, when creating a Hospital Design Plan, it is also necessary to provide dividing elements capable of separating the patients, without preventing the staff from having the whole situation under control. Furthermore, the size and the arrangement of the furnishings change if the user is disabled and needs to move with a wheelchair.

In addition, the facilities vary for the resuscitation and intensive care areas, in which a different type of bed is expected.

In fact, the medical and paramedical staff must be in a position to be able to follow the other patients while assisting one in particular. The rooms can also be arranged with more than four beds.

When designing these areas, it must be taken into account that the patient is bedridden, continuously monitored and connected to life support equipment, hooked to a bed head channel and ceiling.

Large plant equipment requires an increase in surfaces and heights. Furthermore, access to the rooms is limited by aseptic measures and can also include filter areas in which to dress.

In the hospitalization areas connected to the birth block, in addition to the standard equipment, an additional provision of space is also required to favour the rooming-in of new-borns.

In standard hospital rooms with a single bed, adequate space must be provided for the presence of a second bed or a sofa bed in which an accompanying person can sleep. This is especially essential in pediatric wards. Consult Health Care Equipment & Services Companies to get an appropriate Hospital Building Plan designed as per your requirements.

In addition to the hospital bed, a hospital room must be equipped with wardrobes and bedside tables that can be fixed through the internal partitions or furniture of industrial production.

Furthermore, suitable separating elements must also be provided between one bed and another which can be both simple separation curtains and real closing elements. In the second case, natural light must also be provided to the bed furthest from the window.

For the purposes of privacy, the entrance area to the room should be structured in such a way as to shield the patient from the gaze of passers-by in the corridors with the door open, while always ensuring the transitability of vehicles on wheels (stretchers and chairs).

It is considered necessary to allow a personalization of the space, guaranteeing a greater similarity of the elements of domestic furniture, also in consideration of the fact that these spaces are intended for people who have greater difficulty in adapting to new environments.

Architecture Planning For Hospital Construction Companies in India

The construction of clinics and hospitals and formation of a Hospital Building Plan is a multi-stage process, which, like any design and construction of civilian facilities, always has certain nuances. A serious problem is the issue of financing: the cost of building a hospital is high, and the mechanism for distributing funds for such projects is complex and requires significant experience in the construction of polyclinics and other health facilities.

Architecture Planning For Hospital Construction Companies in India

The technological process of building a polyclinic or a hospital itself is very complicated, it requires great professionalism of people, such as Hospital Construction Companies in India who take part in the work, from design to installation of equipment.

The company will carry out the construction of a hospital, accompanying the process at all its stages. They offer:

  • Design of a hospital of any specialization;
  • Construction of a hospital as a general contractor;
  • Supply of specialized materials and equipment;
  • Construction and installation work;
  • Commissioning works;
  • Design, installation and maintenance of ventilation systems and “clean rooms”.

Hospital Construction Companies in India operate in the design and construction of public and private building works of any kind (hospital, civil, industrial, tourist, commercial, school, religious, prefabricated, etc.).

The design of a hospital building must be supplemented by a whole series of evaluations, including management ones (feasibility study). The hospital design is one of the components of building industry over the years that has shown greater need for changes. The need for construction or renovation of a hospital arises when a healthcare centre requires evaluations from an economic as well as structural point of view.

The design of a hospital must be preceded by feasibility studies aimed at identifying optimal solutions to the needs to be met and to enable the public administration to define the references and constraints to which the project proposals must comply. The feasibility study, in addition to directing the design, must be a suitable tool to prefigure a wide range of management possibilities for the future.

The advantage of making an interior design plan

An effective interior design master plan will make it easier for top management and hospital managers to market the branding and image of the hospital as a whole in terms of its physical facilities.

A good Hospital Design Plan will focus on strategies and problem-solving methods in the process of operating a hospital, so that the final result must be considered in the long term, especially in terms of maintenance.

In addition to colour management and interior themes that are integrated into the vision and mission, the overall hospital flow is also considered, resulting in harmonization of hospital functions.

To date, Astron Healthcare has successfully helped in the field of Hospital Construction India, including medical institutions of various specializations. The team of Astron Healthcare, the best Health Care Equipment & Services Company, is always ready to offer you a competent solution to problems of any level of complexity in the design and construction of hospitals and clinics.

For more information on the timing and cost of their services, please contact its specialists.