The only work that will ultimately bring any good to any of us is the work of contributing to the healing of the world – M. Williamson
The current global population sits at around 6.8 billion people. There are approximately 20,000 hospitals worldwide serving the global population, which is clearly not enough. In Canada, the current population sits at around 33.8 million people, with 830 acute care hospitals. With over 10% of the Canadian GDP spent on healthcare, and around 30% of that spent on hospitals, we are far from prepared for the impact of the aging baby boomer generation on our healthcare infrastructure. By 2020, it is anticipated that seniors will make up over 18% of our population, and with health costs of a senior averaging 5 times more than a younger adult, healthcare spending in our country will increase dramatically. 830 hospitals are not enough to sustain our population today, never mind in 10 years.
In the last decade, three new acute care hospitals were completed in Ontario. There are currently 28 projects underway. As students of architecture, it is quite likely that we will be working in the healthcare field and not even know it yet. Why? Because architecture schools more often than not, omit healthcare architecture from their curricula.
Canada currently has zero schools offering programs in healthcare design. Sure it is complex, challenging, and sometimes dry, but there is no other form of architecture that literally impacts life and death. Our weakest and most emotional moments happen in a hospital, and architecture and design have an impact on every single one of these. There is no other institution that impacts every citizen in our country in one form or another.
A Visual Primer to Hospital Design aims to provide students and those with no background in healthcare design a glimpse into this complex and fascinating world. An entirely visual companion to hospital design, this book offers an introduction to a selection of topics under the healthcare design umbrella in ABC format in order for the reader to appreciate just how vast the field actually is and shed some light on the opportunity for great and challenging design.
