Massachusetts General Hospital's Lunder Building, a new 14-story, 150-bed, 535,000-square-foot facility completed in 2011, was designed with the notion of increasing the operational efficiency as well as enhancing the healing aspect of its patients. Inserting a glass and steel-framed polygonal volume onto the 42,000-square-foot site, architects of NBBJ envisioned fragmenting the the mass and angled exterior planes within the glass façade detailing to express the building's multi-level functionality on the exterior.
While glass is the optimal material selection in displaying the building's separate functions, it allows for the first two floors, designated for the initial reception, admissions, and circulation, to connect to the outdoors, transpiring daylight to the interiors. The structure uses energy-efficienct insulated glass with low-E coating throughout, choosing glazing with a high visible-light transmittance and a high shading coefficient for the patient floors.
Another important element that radiated through the project was the connection factor within the facility as well as with the surrounding context. The building is programmatically-dense, helping it to connect to five existing buildings via walkways and bridges. It appreciates the horizontality of the MGH's Yawkey Center for Outpatient Care and the verticality of the Ellison glass tower Building to seamlessly connect Lunder physically and aesthetically to the other hospital structures around it. Comprising of two interlocking, C-shaped groups of single-patient rooms, traversed by a central circulation spine, the design of the patient floor helps to minimize staff travel times, and brings natural light into the patient rooms and staff support areas. This section also incorporates two gardens, a five-story indoor atrium, and an outdoor bamboo garden on the sixth floor.
The approach to the design came from the rising trend of having medical facilities simulate residential styles to help patients assume a more relaxed atmosphere, away from the traditional feeling usually associated with being in a hospital. Incorporating soft lighting, bamboo accent walls, large garden-themed graphics, and both open and intimate spaces, help to link the benefits of having views to nature to the quality of the healing process.
I believe applying the psychological correlations with design and recovery, while also incorporating sustainable qualities, is an approach that could increase the healing process and potentially grant patients with a longevity that wasn't in the prognoses before.
Great post, Carolina! Medical facilities have always been a big challenge for green building so it does make sense they should be superior performers with respect to health and patient recovery time.
ReplyDeleteThe trend in making medical facilities less sterile and alien and more comfortable and homely. This project I recently found takes that same idea and uses it to generate the design of the healthcare center.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.archdaily.com/342294/new-healthcare-center-winning-proposal-nord-architects-3rw-architects/
The idea of having a very naturalistic and human experience in hospitals is beginning to be considered very seriously as many people have found it leads to better recovery and the worker's are also more fond of these humanized places that can often be very uncomfortable and enclosed.
This sounds like a great idea for a hospital. They are making two major changes to a typical hospital design by increasing efficiency and creating more of a “community” and connected feel. Glass facades may seem inefficient, but new technologies such as low-e coatings have allowed buildings to be energy efficient while letting in more daylight to reduce lighting costs. Hopefully by connecting multiple buildings and a more natural and relaxed feel indoors, patients will be able to recover faster and have higher spirits.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post. I recently had the privilege of sitting in on a presentation by DPR as they walked us through a hospital project. Hospitals are some of the most complicated buildings to design and build. There are so many systems to consider and the way they interact and overlap can be mind-boggling, especially the structural and electrical systems because of the equipment that must be used. To go the extra mile and add all that human compassion to the design is admirable.
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