Quality evaluation method for pediatric hospital buildings to support the territory

Abstract

Since ancient times the hospital has always been helping shape urban individuality, mainly affecting the territory development. In the best cases hospital has designed an intelligent system of synergies and integrations with other territorial and urban functions. The work focuses on the analysis in particular of pediatric hospital buildings. The objective of the research is to ensure higher quality and efficiency for these hospital buildings, in order to obstruct the ongoing obsolescence processes and guarantee an essential service to the territory. In the hospital design sector, the quality of the space is necessary not only to ensure more exceptional comfort for the users but has beneficial effects on the children healing process. Therefore the research proposes by using a multi-criteria methodology a method for assessing the quality of pediatric hospital structures at three different levels of investigation (Urban System, Building System, and Internal Space System). The originality of the work consists of recognizing the quality as a function of three specific criteria/objectives: Humanization, Sustainability and Flexibility. This new integrated multidisciplinary approach aims at representing a useful model to support systematically the appropriate design choices.