Main description:

Designing Public Spaces in Hospitals illustrates that in addition to their aesthetic function, public spaces in hospitals play a fundamental role concerning people's satisfaction and experience of health care. The book highlights how spatial properties, such as accessibility, visibility, proximity, and intelligibility affect people's behavior and interactions in hospital public spaces. Based on the authors' research, the book includes detailed analysis of three hospitals and criteria that can support the design in circulation areas, arrival and entrance, first point of welcome, reception, and the interface between city and hospital. Illustrated with 150 black and white images.

Contents:

Foreword. Acknowledgments. Image Credits. Introduction. Part 1 1. The New Spaces of the Hospital 2. The Importance and Interest to Public Spaces 3. A Tool for Reading and Describing Public Spaces Part 2 4. Visibility 5. Accessibility 6. Proximity 7. Intelligibility 8. Relationability Bibliography. Index