How Has Hospital Changed Over Time

In the hospital boom following World War II, Florence Nightingale’s original concept of hospitals was replaced by hospitals that prioritized efficiency over human comfort and healing. A typical hospital configuration became a deep span, multi-floor block (or platform) with a patient tower placed on top (as a podium). Building technology aided in this transformation with a new ability to create long span structures, mechanically ventilated interior spaces, and movement of people vertically with elevators. Circulation patterns were confusing without any external cues of directionality, setting or hierarchy. Ultimately, the attitude of the hospital as a well-tuned machine took precedent over more humanistic factors for the patients, staff, and

Architecture flat‐lined.”

The hospitals were no longer ‘healing’ centres, they were taken over by equipment and machinery. With everything mechanized, the only scope for architecture was in terms of functionality and aesthetics. Thus, the huge chunks of mass or rather the ‘platform and podium’ transformed into decorated blocks of buildings from the outside as well as inside.

The healing ability of architecture is lost in transition from healing spaces to functionalist buildings. Healthcare today focuses on the ease of functionality and has side-lined the well-being of the patients and caregivers in terms of spatial planning. Aesthetics of the building are given precedence than the quality of space. With the space crunch and high real estate rates, healthcare buildings have expanded vertically without consideration of therapeutic spaces. Hospitals today are home to machinery and designers attempts to conceal this machinery. Healing is prioritized only from the medical and technological point of view. The emotional status of the patients waiting in long dingy corridors or family waiting in the humongous waiting rooms is not relevant as opposed to the usability of every inch and smooth functioning of the

The pavilion system emphasized healing gardens as a view from every patients’ bed.

The sound of the birds chirping in a garden or that of water along with the smell of the flowers and soil tends to mentally transport a patient to a world away from the pain and sickness. It works as a distraction wherein one forgets about his worries and pain.

The Cleveland Botanical Garden, located in the city’s University Circle neighbourhood, is a combination of indoor exhibits, housed in a magnificent glasshouse, and ten acres of diverse outdoor gardens. The Elizabeth and Nona Evans Restorative Garden was a renovation and expansion of a Library Reading Garden. It serves as an outdoor classroom where healthcare workers from across the country learn how to use plants and gardening to improve the quality of life for patients in their