Eco-strategy of hospital planning and design
*Respect the local climate characteristics and the status quo of the base
High-end medical service organizations need to take into full consideration of the local climate characteristics in the planning. Through the research and analysis of the natural environment of the base, including the topography of the site, landforms, sunshine, wind direction, soil, water resources, vegetation, etc., we can make the best use of our strengths and avoid our weaknesses, minimize the energy consumption of the building after its completion, and make full use of natural lighting and ventilation. For example, the hospitalization department is planned in the part of the building that is favorable to receive sunshine, and the dirt outlet is set in the downwind direction, and so on.
*Saving land and efficient use of land combined
Planning should be a rational analysis of the current situation of the base and the city, combined with the surrounding road conditions to rationally plan the traffic flow within the hospital area, try to achieve the flow of people and logistics do not cross, briefly each flow line. This can reduce the distance and time of the flow of people and goods, thus saving energy; secondly, it can improve the management and operation efficiency; thirdly, it can improve the comfort of the patients' medical treatment.
When carrying out hospital planning, the possibility of hospital expansion should also be taken into account. Planning based on ecological concepts should reserve land for development within the base and prioritize growable planes in architectural design, so as to lay a good foundation for further construction in the future.
*Emphasis on the planning of green space
The green space in the hospital compound can not only ease the tension of patients and enhance the hospital's therapeutic environment, but also realize the functions of noise reduction and summer cooling under the premise of reasonable planning, effectively improve the quality of service of the healthcare institution and save energy.
Architectural ecological design principles
*Moderate principle
High-end medical service institutions and ordinary hospitals are different, registration is usually taken by appointment, the hospital's foot traffic is also significantly less than ordinary hospitals, so it will not be like ordinary hospitals in the foyer at the accumulation of a large number of people, too tall and luxurious hotel-style foyer is actually not necessary. Therefore, in the design of the foyer can be appropriately reduced area, through the enhancement of the patient waiting area, the hospitalization department of the space quality to convey the meaning of high-end medical services. You can also avoid waste and environmental pollution by using environmentally friendly materials when decorating.
*Principle of Design Priority
When mentioning eco-architecture, many people think of various eco-architectural techniques. Although these techniques have been widely used in all kinds of buildings and achieved good results, ecological design should not stop at the level of technical application.
Architects should make it clear that technology is only one of the means to help us realize ecological architecture, and that the use of basic design methods, the conscious use of solar energy, natural ventilation and other environmental factors, and the organic integration of suitable ecological technology into the design scheme is the complete ecological design strategy.
Natural ventilation not only effectively reduces the reliance on air conditioning in high-end medical institutions, but also reduces the chances of cross-infection among patients and promotes their recovery. Natural ventilation can be driven by the pressure difference formed by the wind speed from outside and the temperature difference formed by the location and temperature between the holes on the building surface to cause indoor and outdoor air flow.
As early as the mid-19th century, the CiviI and Military Hospital, Montpellier, France, was designed with this technique. In order to control ventilation, an effective pit system was designed under the first floor of the ward to introduce fresh air, and clover-leaf shaped ventilation holes were installed above the corridors for additional ventilation. This type of ward has been tested in practice and proved to significantly reduce internal hospital infections. In modern hospital design practice, the extraction effect of the atrium is often used to promote natural ventilation.
High-end medical buildings can also realize ecological functions through the use of sunlight. In the design, comprehensive consideration is given to the choice of orientation, peripheral structure and materials, ventilation measures and other aspects. In addition, in summer, through the overall combination of fa?ade and sunshade treatment, including the pick edge, sunshade film, louvers, etc. and the skylight sunshade treatment, you can control the sunlight into the room, in summer to reduce the sunlight into the room; in the winter to make full use of solar energy, to prevent the adverse effects of cold wind; through the selection of a reasonable building type and plan form, to reduce the loss of heat.
In recent years, some high-end medical service organizations built in China in order to highlight the high-end and luxury qualities of the building set up a full glass skylight atrium. In hot climates, the energy consumption associated with this practice of bringing sunlight indoors is enormous. Appropriate shading treatments not only reduce energy consumption, but also enhance the spatial quality of the hospital. For example, the Juan Carlos Hospital in Madrid, Spain, in the atrium treatment, the wooden grille as the main element, blocking the strong sunlight in Spain, but also highlights the round skylight design, the whole space is elegant and quiet. And the U.S. Children's Hospital in Seattle is set up through the awning to reduce the sunlight from the side.
*Growable Overall Design Principles
Hospitals are often faced with the problem of remodeling and expansion as patient demand increases and medical equipment is updated. Unlike other building types, medical buildings need to grow holistically and systematically in all functional parts during expansion, and the original building usually has to be used simultaneously during the process of remodeling and expansion. How to maintain the sustainable development of the hospital scale, to ensure a good medical environment, and to avoid the waste of the existing functional modules are the issues that designers should consider.
The St. Mary's Hospital on the Isle of Wight in the UK is an outstanding example of the Nucleus system combining topography and natural environment, with four cross-shaped units radially arranged along the main street of the hospital and the original building as an organic whole. The wedge-shaped courtyards formed between the units provide the hospital with good natural ventilation and lighting, as well as protection from cold winds. The south-facing plan layout gains more solar energy, which, together with highly efficient energy-saving materials and landscape treatments, results in an overall energy saving of 50% for the building. This shows that a holistic layout that utilizes natural growth patterns is not only conducive to the future expansion of the hospital, but also has a positive effect on its ecology and energy efficiency.
Selection and application of energy-saving technologies
Of all the energy consumed by the hospital, electricity accounts for about 64% (of which air-conditioning accounts for about 50%), followed by lighting, which is about 34%. If the over-reliance on air-conditioning and artificial lighting can be reduced through the implementation of effective energy-saving technologies and the utilization of clean energy sources (e.g., solar, wind, etc.), the energy consumption of hospitals will be effectively reduced.
*Skin technology
The ecological design of building skin is closely related to building ecology, which can help the building to realize the functions of heat preservation, insulation, sun shading, natural ventilation, natural lighting, etc., so as to achieve low energy consumption. In particular, the form of the ward part of the hospital, which consumes the most energy, should follow its ecological function and use function.
Enhance the performance of heat preservation and prevention. The building skin is the transition between the inner and outer space, and plays the function of heat preservation and prevention. In eco-architectural design, the skin needs to be energy efficient. In the fa?ade design of high-end medical facilities, the use of glass is very common, and windows and doors have the worst thermal insulation performance, accounting for about 40% to 50% of the total energy consumption of building components, which is one of the main factors affecting the quality of the indoor thermal environment and building energy efficiency. Improve the thermal insulation performance of external windows mainly rely on improving the thermal resistance of the window, such as the use of double or multi-layer glass, insulating glass, low-e glass, etc., which not only improves the rate of sunlight blocking, but also has the effect of sound insulation.