Treds In Architecture

The typical spaces in healthcare facilities can bestandardisedand defined by exacting codes and operational-oriented parameters

- Manu Malhotra

How hospitals appeared a couple of decades ago, to the present day, it has been quite metamorphic. With the industry shifting to a value-based service model, where outcomes and satisfaction drive reimbursements, the patient experience is taking on a whole new level of importance for providers who are looking to add value by designing more patient-and family-friendly spaces which are simultaneously cost sensitive as well. Some of the trends that are picking up which designers and promoters need to keep innovating on are:

Prefabricated structures

With the present construction of healthcare projects averaging over four years; by the time a new facility is built, it happens that it is already out of date. Prefab construction can solve this problem and allow for a fast, low-cost, and scalable solution that is of a higher quality than conventional construction.

Healthcare architecture and prefabrication is a perfect pairing. First, healthcare organisations need to standardise building components to reduce variation wherever possible and appropriate. The typical spaces in healthcare facilities can be standardised and defined by exacting codes and operational-oriented parameters. Once the standardisation is done, individual parts come together in a modular planning, which offers consistent, repeatable elements that can be flexibly adapted and reconfigured for different programming needs and sites. Finally, standardised modular components are ​prefabricated. Prefabricated components are built off-site at the same time as on-site construction and then assembled on-site. This reduces cost by saving time and the associated general conditions of managing a construction site.