Material #33: Innovations in hospital design
Consequential decisions in public procurement
In a recent book chapter on sustainable procurement for infrastructure I zoom in on hospitals as a site of transformation. The way that hospitals are planned, financed and designed has material implications for the experiences not only of patients, but also of their visiting friends and family, for people who work there, and for surrounding communities.
As with all major projects, the earliest stages of planning are critical for setting the future course in action. That’s why the chapter’s called “Interventions in hospital construction: Early action for the realization of human rights”.
Those early stages can bake in risks of things going wrong (starting with corruption, which leads to “white elephant” projects that just serve to line a few pockets, or win a few votes). And they can unlock opportunities for positive impacts, for example through the creation of local jobs, innovative design and use of materials, improvements in local public transit connections, and through adaptability to a changing climate, and changing patient needs.
Some of the practical actions shared in the chapter are:
Health Care Without Harm’s Global Green and Healthy Hospitals Network. The network calls on the health sector to reduce emissions in the construction process itself, improve the energy efficiency of hospitals and to localize energy through the installation of solar panels or wind turbines. In sub-Saharan Africa, only 34% of hospitals have reliable access to electricity - while in all regions hospitals face risks of power cuts and shortages.
MASS Design Group’s work focusing on the dignity of patients and their families through the architectural design of hospitals and health care centers. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, MASS shared insights from its work over several previous years improving ventilation and reducing the spread of infections.
The Healthcare Anchor Network in the United States, a collaboration of over 75 healthcare systems working to harness their economic amplifier effect to build “more inclusive and sustainable local economies”.
And the potential applications of geomapping tools, to map the parts of a country that have the highest health needs and work to allocate health infrastructure budgets accordingly.
The chapter calls for an approach grounded in human rights - including, though not limited to, the right to physical and mental health. (International standards on the right to health specifically encompass access to health care facilities such as hospitals). And it lifts up the potential for responsible public procurement of health care infrastructure to help shape and inspire the wider industries and economies within which it is built.
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Through 2024, It’s Material is sharing one use of the word “material” each week, on Tuesdays.
The chapter on hospital construction is part of the book “Sustainable Public Procurement of Infrastructure and Human Rights”, published by Edward Elgar
See also: Buro Happold’s project “Imagining a prototype for the hospital of the future”