Hospital Architecture

Rapid advances in medicine coupled with increasingly aging societies have considerably changed the requirements of medical services. Today, the hospital sector must comply with more than norms and functions: Healthcare facilities are in a stage of transition from purely care-providing institutions to service-oriented healthcare providers. They are expected to offer environments that aid patients in their recovery and support them to stay healthy through state-of-the-art medical treatment on the one hand, as well as through a high quality of life and a sense of well-being on the other hand. The projects introduced in this volume showcase the great variety of designs expressing the contemporary perception of hospitals whose architecture and design are integral components of healing and convalescence. Different conceptual takes meet the requirements of the growing and very diverse needs of the users, i.e. patients, doctors and nursing staff, as well as visitors. The presented hospitals all share a high degree of quality awareness and make the individual and the needs of the individual the key focus of the design.