FROM THE OPEN BUILDING TO OPEN ROOMS: A DESIGN APPROACH FOR FUTURE HEALTHCARE ENVIRONMENTS

In recent years, many studies have revealed the increasing rate of hospital obsolescence: this fact is a reflection of the fast pace at which contemporary society and medical knowledge evolve. The main challenge is to realize flexible healthcare facilities able to update their services in time. Objective. Starting from the Open Building design approach, the current development of prefabricated technologies in construction industry and the application of Plug-In users’ rooms in hotel facilities, a multidisciplinary research group (coordinated by the authors) develops a new approach in flexibility in hospital wards with the Open Room, predisposed to respond to several functions. Methodology. The design approach is structured into three areas: Primary System, the structural framework in which the modules are plugged; Secondary System, through the Plug-In approach, represents the prefabricated sub-structures that host the skeleton with all the implants and needs for all the typologies of hospital rooms; Tertiary System, that features both the furniture and all the finishing elements, that allows to quickly transform the room. Outcomes. The resulting product is a prefabricated room, transportable in three parts and able to accommodate a variety of fit-out changes: the interior is defined by a series of customizable wall panels with foldable furniture and integrated functions; the tripartition of the sub-structures provides the possibility of removing the room and repurpose the building. Conclusion. The research work started as a concept and it was developed for giving rise to a new approach in design that overcome the old utopic concepts of plug-in architecture. Thanks to the technological developments it provides intrinsic flexibility that allows care quality improvement directly empowering the hospital to update its services during time.