Resilient healthcare facilities are designed to be both robust and flexible explains HDR Health Sector Lead Conor Larkins.

This means ensuring the infrastructure will have a long lifespan while simultaneously allowing particular building components to grow and change.

“This is really important because we need these buildings to support changing demographics, changing health needs, changing and evolving models of care and support technological advancements,” Conor says.

Conor says the pandemic was a big learning curve in the healthcare design sector as it exposed a lack of resilience in certain facilities.

“Some hospitals required significant changes to their existing built infrastructure to allow them to continue to function during the pandemic. A lot of projects constructed or designed at the time needed to undergo changes”.

She says this forced designers to think deeply about functionality and resilience. Common design changes that needed to be made included extra doors to create airlocks, additional storage for PPE for staff and full-height walls to support mechanical solutions required for highly infectious patients.

“It’s applying quite simple things but really understanding at a deep level the flows and operational needs of the spaces at multiple uses”.

The pandemic was also an important reminder to think about the staff and be more considerate of their needs as they move around the hospital.

“We have to understand what’s happening on the ground. We have to listen to our end users and really understand their needs and what their experience is going to be”.

Conor says the most successful healthcare facilities are the ones that are truly embedded in their place and their specific community. She uses the example of Sunshine Coast University Hospital which has a real physical connection between the inside and out.

“The Sunshine Coast has the benefit of a beautiful climate, and the entire scheme is defined by a series of outdoor rooms that function as informal gathering and waiting spaces for staff, visitors and patients”.

Sustainability is another important consideration in healthcare design. This stretches from selecting a facade that can mitigate against heat gain to weighing up where to invest the carbon in that building.

“We try hard to create hospital buildings that are as green as possible. There is a lot to balance but it does come back to thoughts around research and data. When patients have access to natural light and fresh air, can see green and go outside and be within the landscape they have improved recovery times and less time in hospital”.

Social sustainability is another important priority for healthcare designers. Conor says this can be achieved through a co-design model of engagement where end users have the opportunity to influence the design.

“It's about equity of access. A deep understanding of who is coming, what is their journey? Keeping in mind people are often coming in a state of stress and vulnerability. How do we provide an experience as easy and stress-free as possible”.

This podcast is brought to you in association with Siniat, proud sponsor of Talking Architecture & Design Podcast Health and Aged Care Series.

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