Healthcare design and innovation for the future: what’s happening in Europe?
What new ideas are emerging in design practice for healthcare in Europe. What lessons can we learn for the UK? Speakers shared their experiences showcasing recent best practice and evidence for change. Speakers included
Michel Rafin Architect Group 6 France
Antonio Ocaña Architect Aidhos Spain
Sjoerd de Hoogh Architect Dutch Centre for Health Assets Netherlands
Teva Hesse Architect at C F Moller Architects Denmark
Each speaker showed recent projects focusing on major acute hospital designs. The discussion identified 4 key themes:
– size – the examples of France, Spain & Denmark were of major hopitals. The idea of compacted design is only just emerging in France & the Netherlands.
– culture – the culture of each country was reflected in the design of the hospitals and the construction process varied widely
– costs – although it is difficult to compare costs across the 4 countries it appears that hospitals in Spain are cheaper to construct
– sustainability – this seems to be a new requirement in all 4 countries
