CABE polls negative reaction
THE COMMISSION for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) says its recently published survey ‘Healthy Hospitals’ found that 83% of those that voted have had “negative experiences of hospital environments.”
Healthy Hospitals was launched in November 2003 in partnership with the Royal College of Nursing to call for radical improvements in the design of new hospitals. CABE asked four teams of architects to come up with aspirational visions for a hospital of the future. The designs were put to the public vote via the internet, and of the 700 people who voted, 42% worked in a healthcare environment and 15% in design.
53% of the votes went to architects Jane Darbyshire & David Kendall, whose designs were “dominated by space and light,” two factors that were prioritised by more than half of the voters, said CABE. Other priorities included fresh air (16%), gardens/outdoor space (12%), privacy (9%) and a calm environment (8%).
Jon Rouse, chief executive of CABE, said: “We’ll be feeding back the results of the campaign to chief executives of the new wave of PFI hospitals and to the government.”
A spokesperson for CABE told HD that it didn’t want to exclusively focus on healthcare design practices in the competition, in order to “get people to think differently.” CABE commissioner Sunand Prasad told HD: “It’s about environments that express respect, that say ‘you matter,’ that aren’t factories.”
Copyright Wilmington Publishing Ltd. Mar 2004
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