Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospital and Healthcare Facilities

I've heard of architects entering into the health care market thinking that the field was wide open and , "hey, it's just a design job like any other!". Well, yes it is but nope, it's not. The clearest guide through the basics is the "Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospital and Health Care Facilities", developed by the A.I.A. and the only way to get started with efficiency. Realistic scope is laid out for you to find your way to the starting line. Yes, that's right, I said the "starting line". I'm writing this review in July of 2000 and the edition now available is from 1996-97. Remember 1996? That was when Y2K was a joke about to explode some time in the distant future, MRI's were a new and painful diagnostic technology and hospitals were just giving way to medical centers in function but not yet in form. That's the down side of this primer. It's got the basics to a high degree but not the latest-up-to-date on much of anything. You might say that there might be an exception with morgues because, hey, how much can they change? Surprisingly, however, even morgues are on the move. Last week a national expose has cast a light on the issue of the mistakes of doctors being hidden by inadequate autopsy follow-through and a new light has been shined on the in-house, acute care morgue facilities. Health care is fast moving and faster now than ever and this book won't help you to catch up. It will, however, give you the vernacular associated with the medical worlds discribed in the contents. It will associate building types with concomitant health care venues, and it will point you clearly and directly to the awareness that this specialty is largely functionly driven design. It will not adequately discuss inovation, potential space/healing relationships, ancient western or feng shui centered approaches to healing spaces or the like. It will caution you to know your place in the scheme of things: doctors heal and architects manage the space for that to happen. So, yes, it is a rather narrow venue. It is a primer not an exhaustive reference of the history and potentials to contribute to the general welfare and common good by being on a health care management team. So,yes, if your expectations are to gain entrance into a function driven, high liability architectural enterprise, this is the foundational resource for you. It is not intended, I'm sure, to be entertaining or an easy read but you will pull it off the shelf regularly to review the basics and know the language of the medium. Good luck.