We developed strategies that we were confident could be delivered locally in Italy.. We made extensive use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and 3D visualisation from the very earliest stages.
The second option, traditionally adopted in many hospital wards, locates the toilets adjacent to the corridors and places the patient area closer to the façade.Although this partially supports design for wellness principles with patients benefitting from the connection to the outdoors, the layout is detrimental to the staff-patient connection and operational efficiency..
The third option, preferred by Bryden Wood, arranges the toilets in a nested position between wards.An excellent example of healthy architecture, this option fully supports design for wellbeing with beds open to both the façade and corridors.In this situation, patient wellbeing is prioritised on every level, as the nested toilet positioning provides a connection to both the outdoor environment and hospital staff, improving both wellbeing and hospital management.. As shown in the following diagrams, daylight levels are better in the outboard and our preferred nested solution, and the nested option has an improved uniformity ratio.
An adequately designed ward would also facilitate a variety of active views out, both to the outdoors and circulation areas, creating a connection to nature in line with biophilic design principles, as well as a better thermal experience.. Further ideas to improve visual comfort in hospital wards are: the adoption of circadian lighting, a better user experience of artificial lighting control and the use of further biophilic design techniques (colour palettes, patterns and vegetation)..Figure 2: Daylight availability (SDA).
From left to right: inboard design, outboard design, nested design..
Figure 3: Daylight rendering.Adding a heat pump would increase carbon by 3.5 kgCO2/m2.
Adding insultation (rockwool) thickness in walls from 150mm to 250mm of rockwool would increase carbon by 3.6 kgCO2/m2.Adding insultation (rockwool) thickness in floor and ceiling from 190mm to 370mm of rockwool would increase carbon by 6 kgCO2/m2.
Reducing the boiler size from a 15kw electric boiler to a 3kw boiler would reduce carbon by 1.69 kgCO2/m2.Reducing the number of radiators from 10 to just one would reduce carbon by 10.7 kgCO2/m2.
(Editor: Eco Cookware)