2023-10-18 17:34:41
Boring waiting rooms or painted with colors that promote anxiety in those present; rectangular consultation tables that “face” and encourage the hierarchical relationship between doctor and patient; double hospital rooms without natural light, poorly distributed and that do not allow the privacy of the admitted people; noisy spaces without the corresponding acoustic insulation… In short, often stressful healthcare environments and even hostile to users.
Architectural humanization
All of these are examples of a project design that meets functional, aesthetic or economic criteria, but that on many occasions it leaves aside the well-being of the users of said health and social health spaces, whether they are patients, companions or workers.
Given this, concepts such as “architectural humanization“, a term that today is the focus of debate in the sector and that encompasses both the built space such as medical operations and that must be understood as the architecture that considers the well-being of people from its conception.
Faced with this unfavorable scenario and considering the growing scientific evidence linked to the effects of the physical environment on people’s well-being, PMMT Architecture –company that has been designing and building healthcare equipment on different continents for more than 25 years, applying its own and innovative methodology– has edited the guide ‘Humanization of healthcare architecture: A design guide for well-being’.
Presented this Tuesday, October 17, in Barcelona by the two co-directors and founding partners of PMMT, Patricio Martínez y Maximià Torruellathe guide is a rigorous documentary research which seeks to identify those design elements that cause more or less comfortable situations for people in hospital environments.
Cover of the PMMT Architecture guide.
In addition to this identification, organizes the existing knowledge on architectural humanization and, thirdly, it exposes the needs for the well-being of the users through what they define as the “Architectural Humanization Triad” formed by the concepts of Connection, Empathy and Dignity.
“Strong emotional charge”
As pointed out Patricio Martinez, architect and co-director of PMMT Arquitectura, “medical care originally looked following the care of the sick, since the 20th century the design of these infrastructures has focused on the cure of diseases, often forgetting the relevance of designing considering experience. of its users.” Martínez also pointed out that “architecture cannot heal“But if we recover its humanization, it can take care of patients, families and professionals.”
Martínez also added that “humanize health and social health environments It is especially relevant as these are places with a strong emotional charge, where patients are generally not in an optimal state of health or where very significant moments in our lives and those of our loved ones occur.”
Patricio Martínez. Photo:// PMMT
The bibliography used to create the book has included articles and books on architecture, psychology, neuroarchitecture, art and color theory. It also includes studies on the effects of the physical environment on human behavior and emotions since “as we explain in the book, The 3 humanized architecture goes beyond the purely functional and normativeproviding added value to the projects and their users,” says Martínez.
an equilateral triangle
The “Triad of Architectural Humanization” develops three needs: Connection, Empathy and Dignity. Three requirements for well-being that are represented in an equilateral triangle. As pointed out Maximià Torruella, architect and co-director of PMMT, “none of the three needs is more relevant than the other. Design strategies must be integrated that address connection, empathy and dignity in equal measure to guarantee architectural humanization in healthcare spaces.”
The connection It refers to the link we establish between our body and the environment through the built space, which is essential for the creation of healthcare architecture capable of improving the experience of its users. The connection addresses three parts: senses, biophilia and circadian cycle. Regarding the senses, humanized architecture must go beyond the sense of vision by incorporating hearing, smell, touch and thermoreception.
For its part, the biofilia It must be incorporated into spaces for the well-being of users, since human beings have the ontological need to relate to nature. As the last point of the connection, the natural light It dictates our circadian cycle and is beneficial for our health, so it is important to have access to it indoors.
Empathy is the second requirement of the triad of architectural humanization. Health infrastructures are the scene of many situations that cause a high level of stress in patients, companions and workers. Project with empathy It is a way to reduce the stress that users of health and social health equipment usually experience, for which it must be planned taking into account their emotions.
Special sensitivity
One strategy to achieve this is to imagine how the people for whom we design will inhabit the spaces, something that in theory might seem quite simple, but which requires a good understanding of the architectural program and a special sensitivity to human emotions.
Maximià Torruella. Photo:// PMMT
For Maximià Torruella, “designing health and socio-health spaces with empathy must consider strategies to alleviate negative feelings and emotions such as anxiety, loneliness, detachment, sadness or boredom, which are very common in these environments.”
The third vertex of the triangle represents the dignity; which is a value inherent to all human beings, regardless of their characteristics and circumstances. However, this is often violated in healthcare spaces. From PMMT Arquitectura The guide classifies design strategies that safeguard the dignity of people into three categories: privacy, communication and inclusion.
Privacy of the body and psyche of patients It is exposed in healthcare facilities, where it must be exposed to the doctor. The book highlights that privacy is not only important in consultations, but also in common spaces. Communication helps the patient better understand their health situation 4 and be able to navigate the space; and even the configuration of the space can eliminate what causes intimidation and confusion.
Finally, inclusion in humanized architecture promotes the equality of people in spaces, considering human diversity and the existence of minority groups, in addition to addressing the needs of people with functional and cognitive diversity by incorporating universal accessibility strategies in design.
Extrapolable to other sectors
For the authors, the book ‘Humanization of healthcare architecture: A design guide for well-being’ might become a very useful material for architecture students or professionals in the sector, since today there is little literature that addresses this topic, even less in Spanish.
Although the book focuses on the humanization of healthcare environmentsthe knowledge set forth in it might be can be extrapolated to other building typologies. As pointed out Patricio Martínez“by integrating humanized design strategies in different types of buildings, many people might benefit, improving their sense of well-being and, in the long run, their quality of life”. For Martínez “the content of the book and the application of its recommendations might generate a social impact.”
Finally, Maximià Torruella explained that “although the humanization of spaces is important for our experience, it is not something that is usually prioritized in the training of architects. “This book can provide a paradigm shift.”
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