Building the Future of Health

June 2 15:30-16:30

The Architecture of Hospitals: Community Hospitals and Health Centers Pt. 1


Emerging trends in community health facilities


The trend to replace traditional general hospitals by a limited number of high end facilities - either large-scale university medical centers or smaller but hyper specialized clinics – is matched by a corresponding need for small-scale community hospitals that refrain from high-risk, sophisticated medical interventions. Consequently, the design of community health centers has become a major challenge. Integration in their social and physical surroundings is key, and there are many strategies to achieve this. Some evolve as add-on facilities that usually start with general practitioners, a pharmacy, physical therapists and other easily accessible medical functions; often they are the result of so-called bottom-up initiatives. Others may develop as clusters of medical functions usually found in hospitals, notably outpatient clinics and day hospitals for simple diagnostic procedures and low-risk therapies; these are often part of networks centered around general hospitals. Between these two poles, numerous variants are possible. They may include (or even start from) functions such as sport schools, wellness centers and the like, blurring the dividing lines between health promotion and crisis management. They can promote preventive measures, providing advice, information and support. Economically, they may act as a catalyst of employment; this may even be the case during their construction phase where local people and companies are involved. How do these community centers actually function? What are the reasons to build them? And do they really manage to mitigate the psychological burden that inevitably occurs when people are forced to enter the medical world? In this session: Butaro Hosputal in Butaro (Rwanda) by MASS and the Municipal Healthcare Centres San Blas + Usera + Villaverde in Madrid (Spain) by Entresitio.

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