Updating A Hospital Building. A Task for Innovation Design

Abstract

Refurbishment of a hospital, especially located in a historical building, is a task that goes far beyond a standard framework of architectural practice. A concept of modularity in the architecture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century was only just to happen, building system installations and technical equipment appeared as the simplest solutions. Inscribing complex functional solutions into such a space is an interesting design challenge. Besides of classical architectural design problems, there are several factors that should be considered - ongoing changes in functioning of the health-care system, growing social needs and expectations, expanding possibilities of implementation, both in terms of medicine or medical technology and hospital environment.

What is sometimes referred to as an innovation in health-care architecture is under constant change and development. It happens the changes are introduced by leaps and bounds, thanks to breakthroughs in medicine or as a result of constant progress in medical technologies. These changes and their impact on architectural design can be a fascinating subject itself. Construction of a hospital from a scratch, taking into account the possible development of knowledge, is a complex and complicated task. It becomes even more complicated when we deal with a hospital located in a historic building.

Entering a building on a list of heritage or historical objects does not rule out completely the possibility of its expansion, adaptation or modernization for purposes related to health care. The need for functioning health-care facility in the existing place, albeit at the expense of far-reaching changes in its historical fabric, is the supreme value - at least the location in an urban system that's something that cannot be ignored. A hospital complex formed in this way will retain all its existing advantages and will provide adequate space meeting the requirements of modem medicine.