The architecture of a hospital should be a response to strong user requirements. Recommendations on how to shape the environment of such facilities are highly complex, integrating guidelines from many fields of science. If contradictions between them exist, the designer is required to set priorities for spatial activities. This issue is particularly important during architectural education. The learning process should include projects...

Refurbishment of a hospital, especially located in a historical building, is a task that goes far beyond a standard framework of architectural practice. A concept of modularity in the architecture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century was only just to happen, building system installations and technical equipment appeared as the simplest solutions. Inscribing complex functional solutions into such a space is an interesting...

Hospital-acquired infections pose a problem, which directly affects the safe usage of healthcare facilities. On a global scale, the level of hospital-acquired infections (HAI) is estimated to affect 5–15% of those hospitalised. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that, on an annual basis, procedures preventing hospital-acquired infections consume 80 billion dollars [1]. In this context, it becomes important to create...

Healthcare facilities are architectural objects designed under the strong influence of sanitary and hygienic requirements and guidelines of medical technology. During the process of planning future healthcare facilities and modernising already existing units, the need to provide safety to all their users comes as a significant aspect. In medical objects, it depends on the standard factors observed in public utility buildings. The...

Half of the nineteenth century brought significant changes in the organization and operation of hospitals. The on-coming takeover by the state and its agencies tasks related to medical care resulted in a significant jump in quantitative and almost massive construction of new hospitals. Several hospitals and nursing homes functioned on a relatively small area of a city or town, with different specializations and profiles of care....