INTERIOR FINISHES
Designing for accessibility and a healing environment
Healthcare facilities have some of the most complex and stringent design requirements of any public or private buildings. The right balance must be struck between meeting the functional requirements of specific building areas, and creating an environment conducive to patient wellbeing. With specification of interior finishes a critical part of the overall design process, Kate Waterston, UK Sales manager at Construction Specialties UK, looks at the key design considerations and legislative requirements.
With large numbers of visitors, and high internal traffic, healthcare facilities face potentially huge maintenance costs to remedy surface damage, in order to ensure safe access and a safe environment for all patients, visitors, and staff. While all the functional requirements clearly need to be considered when designing healthcare interiors, there is also growing evidence of the importance of the patient experience to the healing process. It is well-proven that a building’s physical design, and the internal environment and comfort and ambience, can have a nurturing and therapeutic effect on patients, helping them to recover more quickly from injury or illness, making a simple, utilitarian approach to hospital design a thing of the past.
A hospital designed to maximise healing will also benefit medical staff – through improved performance levels and better relationships with patients, and have a positive impact on visitors, encouraging them to come in more frequently, or for longer periods. As a result, a focus on creating and maintaining really effective and well-designed healing environments
can bring the healthcare provider concerned some positive return on investment via enhanced staff recruitment, productivity, and retention, as well as improved patient outcomes.
Impact of art, colour, and biophilic design Incorporating design elements that are welcoming, colourful, and comforting, will positively impact the health and wellbeing of patients. Studies have established a link between recovery times and the interior environment, with visual art playing an important role. Art diverts attention away from pain and stress, may lower blood pressure, and even reduce the need for pain relief. Creating the sense of being outdoors and use of natural scenes in interior décor have been linked to reducing patients’ anxiety and pain. Playful, colourful murals in a children’s ward can create positive distraction, and help reduce the stress of being in an unfamiliar environment. The Stanmore Building at the Royal
National Orthopaedic Hospital in Middlesex does just that – by combining
the latest healthcare technology with architectural design and contemporary art to create colourful and welcoming spaces for patients and staff. Art is used throughout the new building, with poems by Robert McFarlane and – inspired by them – stunning illustrations of flowers, birds, fish, and animals, by Jackie Morris, adorning the corridor walls. In addition, close-up photographs from the natural world are incorporated into durable murals, fitted behind the beds on colour- themed floors. Each of the 94 murals features a unique image, personalising a bed space, but at the same time fits within an overall theme chosen for each of the floors. Biophilic design such as this creates a more natural environment that benefits patients and staff.
Durable wall protection wall murals The durable wall protection murals now available can incorporate bespoke imagery and graphics to give healthcare designers freedom to create calming, comfortable, and healing environments, while meeting all the functional requirements. The choice of colour in wall coatings and wall
The Stanmore Building at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Middlesex combines the latest healthcare technology with architectural design and contemporary art ‘to create colourful and welcoming spaces for patients and staff’.
Art is used throughout The Stanmore Building, with poems by Robert McFarlane and – inspired by them – illustrations of flowers, birds, fish, and animals, by Jackie Morris, adorning the corridor walls.
September 2022 Health Estate Journal 47
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