Building to Heal: New Architecture
for Hospitals examines the hardships and major
challenges faced by the hospital system today and presents innovative models
and solutions in healthcare architecture. Through critical, scientifically based
discourse, a variety of authors examine healthcare systems and hospital architecture,
what hospitals are missing, and how architecture can contribute to the healing
process of patients.



The publication answers these
questions in three comprehensive chapters based on the medical process: “Symptoms,”
“Diagnosis,” and “Therapy.” The introductory section describes the symptoms of
the “sick house” and spotlights the urgent need to take these problems
seriously in the contexts of both society as a whole and architecture. In the
second section, experts from psychology, medicine, and the related sciences, as
well as from architectural theory and philosophy, take a diagnostic look at the
complex causes that lead to the “diseased house.” The third section presents
seven “active ingredients” or scientifically investigated environmental
variables for successful therapy, incorporating tools from evidence-based design.
Finally, thirteen international case studies show how the conscious use of
environmental variables leads to a hospital architecture that promotes healing.




Building to Heal: New Architecture
for Hospitals bridges the gap between the
ever-growing expertise on healthcare architecture and the urgent need for
planners, politicians, and the public to pay attention to one of the most
important issues in architecture today: health.