EVERY SPACE has its KPIs. Shops have to sell
merchandise, while being an active part of a
community, offering experiences, dovetailing
with a dot-com and satisfying other current
requirements. Hospitality venues need to be fully
booked and to do pretty much the same things
that shops do. Offices must provide staff with
a congenial work environment that also allows
for focused tasks – and that makes a lasting
impression on visitors. Each location operates
according to its own programme of demands.
It’s an entirely different story, though, in
the field of healthcare, where the impact we
expect from correlated institutions is to make
sick people better. A crucial goal, yet little money
and attention are given to the interior design of
hospitals and clinics. As a result, we enter what
are too often surroundings so shabby that if we
weren’t already sick, a day or two in this dismal
atmosphere would do the job. Hard light, bare
corridors, no personal or interesting features, and
a lack of imagination in terms of form, materials
and colour. I’m exaggerating, of course, but only
a few years ago my description of the average
healthcare centre would have fit the bill.
Fortunately, we’re seeing a gradual change,
especially now that so many of us have developed
a fetish for health and wellbeing. We can probably
thank insurers and other stakeholders, too, who
have discovered that the quality of hospital
interiors bears a direct relation to the speed of
the healing process.
Hospitable
Hospitals
In healthcare design, the crux of the matter is
fairly simple. Make sure that both patients and
hospital staff feel comfortable. Create rooms that
give patients a certain amount of control, even
if it’s only the colour and intensity of the light.
Another key point is the presence of adequate
distraction in the form of experiential art, play
facilities for children and the like. Abundant
daylight is essential, as are easily accessible
pathways that allow staff to work as efficiently
as possible.
In brief, interior designers involved in
healthcare should take a human-centric approach
to their work. Put patients and their families
first. Make spaces that let staff do their work
unhindered. Then build a room that meets all
other objectives.
This way of working is the exact opposite of
what architects (and many interior designers) are
doing at the moment: they begin with the shell,
insert the programme, materialize it with form
and colour, and finally stop to consider the user.
Recently, the desire to give people a major
role has been taking an increasingly stronger
hold in the design of retail, hospitality and
office environments – prompting me to predict,
without hesitation, that within five years more
and more architects will visit hospitals. Not
because of stress or illness. Purely for inspiration.ROBERT THIEMANN
Editor in chief10 EDITORIAL