Building A Hospital Requires Serious Design Skills

Designing and building a hospital is a complex task. Many factors have to be considered even before construction begins. The proper choice of materials, including wall protection panels, corner guards, metal handrails and other architectural products for building interiors should also be considered to ensure the building’s durability, functionality, safety, and hygiene in the long run.

What Makes A Good Hospital Design

To make the most of any healthcare building, you must have a good hospital design.

Defined spaces. Several people come and go to hospitals for several reasons. Apart from patients and their support team, you also must cater to the healthcare professionals and other staff working in your building. Therefore, when designing a hospital, you need to be intentional in defining different spaces. From the concierge and parking drop-offs, emergency entrances, specialty wards, to the waiting areas and patient rooms, each requires attention to the details.

Accessibility. When building a hospital, overall client experience for all types of patrons must be top of mind. Apart from having well-defined and aptly designed spaces, keep in mind the accessibility of these areas. Can people with disabilities easily navigate all areas? How large are your elevators and how wide are your halls and staircases? Being well-lit is important and will help minimize accidents and injuries.

Health and safety. From investing in good expansion joint covers & systems and wall protection panels for healthcare facilities to strategically placing fire extinguishers and other safety features, you have to take several actions to guarantee that your hospital remains a safe place for its users.

Welcoming and calming elements. Hospitals use durable construction materials to ensure their longevity. But you also have to incorporate warm, natural materials to usher in the sense of calm to patients, guardians, and your workforce. You may even install artwork and other visual elements that can commemorate cultural ethos while offering an air of reassurance to people.

Strengthening The Very Walls Of Your Hospital

When you’re constructing a hospital, you should never compromise structural integrity. Your team should focus on the property assembly and installation of expansion joint covers & systems.

Expansion joints, in a nutshell, comprise a separation in a wall and a flexible material. This material is typically a bond breaker or a sealant. Also called movement joints, they are designed to allow movement due to earthquakes, absorb vibration and temperature-induced material expansion and contraction.

If this component of your hospital is poorly designed and constructed, your walls will be more susceptible to cracks and other forms of damage. In turn, this weakens the very integrity of your building, which is hazardous to all people inside and immediately around the building.

Besides these joints, architectural facades, wall protection, even phenolic wall panels are integral parts of the building design. With the help of wall protection, you can minimize wall damage. If not addressed, these damages can be costly for a building as busy as a hospital. More importantly, cracks, scrapes, and dents can be a breeding ground for pathogens.

With the diligent work from architectural product specifiers, you can ensure a hygienic environment, control wall maintenance expenses, and reduce downtime and closure of certain designated spaces due to maintenance.