“There has been move towards creating
‘home from home’, warmer healthcare environments.”
white light as it reflects light in the red portion of the wavelength. If a filter is used to remove red from the light source, the apple reflects far less light and could appear black.
We see the same principle (though a far less extreme version) played out in the way colours look in different countries. As you move north away from the equator, natural light becomes bluer, and has proportionally less red light. As a result, warm colours that look lovely and vibrant nearer the equator look less intense in the northern hemisphere and the further north you go the more evident the change. Cool blues and greys however are complimented by the light balance in the northern hemisphere and as a result look more desirable.
This goes some way perhaps to explain variation in trends we see in healthcare across the world. In the US, warm,
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beige tones are particularly popular for flooring; we may see richer, warmer hues in Mediterranean countries; in Scandinavia, white, cool blues, light greys and dark greys make for stylish healthcare environments; in the Middle East paler pastels are proving a hit. These are, of course, generalisations, with cultural influences playing a significant part in many design styles seen in all these areas.
COLOUR AND
WELLBEING There is no doubt that aesthetics and design have a huge part to play in creating environments that are calming, healing and therapeutic. The very nature of healthcare environments mean that people using them may be feeling higher than normal levels of anxiety or fear, not to mention pain and sickness. This is especially true with mental health design, where it’s been proved time and again that creating the right environment can make a world of difference.
There has been a very definite move towards creating ‘home from home’, warmer healthcare
environments, deliberately stepping away from the colours that may have represented a colder, clinical traditional approach. There is also the desire for designers and architects to create the unexpected, to defy convention, to shake up traditional mainstream healthcare design whilst remembering that care homes and areas catering for the needs of those with dementia require a more traditional and familiar approach
WORLDWIDE TRENDS There will always be a balance to strike between providing healthcare environments that meet user expectations, and those that push the boundaries of design. Currently, some of the biggest projects worldwide can be found in GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries where the healthcare market is reportedly set to grow by 11 to 13% over the next five years in response to population growth and a commitment to develop world-class healthcare services. We’ll be keeping a close eye on how that market influences healthcare design around the world, and maybe shapes the palettes of the future.
www.altro.co.uk HEALTHCARE | 23
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