Specialized Surgical Center For Elective Surgery, In Port Harcourt Rivers State.

ABSTRACT

Globally, healthcare systems are experiencing increasing fiscal demographic and

consumer pressure. There have been metamorphic changes in the recent past in terms of

healthcare delivery. The planning, design and final architectural expression in health care

is reflective of the gradual shift in outlook of healthcare institutions from merely treating

the sick to a concerted approach to harness healthy living. This has been triggered by

globalization, increased expectations of seekers and providers of healthcare, emphasis on

ambulatory/daycare services, enhanced standards of care and the participation of private

players in the health sector.

Healthcare facilities {in the larger picture Hospitals} are the largest and most complex of

all modern institutes. To add to these complexities are the major transformations that are

occurring in the delivery of health care worldwide. It is thus essential that hospitals are

planned and designed to meet the requirements of today and tomorrow. Winston

Churchill had commented “first we shape our buildings and thereafter they shape us”.

This is certainly true for healthcare facilities.

Existing best practices for healthcare facilities include- emerging trends/concepts such as

integrated health care facilities, value added services, expandability, green hospitals,

healing architecture, life enhancing designs, assisted living facilities, patent focused

architecture and humanizing environment.

This exercise is a documentation of the research into this branch of medical specialty and

its architectural design, emphasizing on the study of an expandable medical facility. The

facts, figures and standards of the project were extracted from authoritative sources and

presented in this small volume. For the ease of understanding, this write-up basically

consists of the definitions, introducing reports explaining the project context including its

background/historical reviews, the aim and objective of the project and the analysis of the

choice site location and geographical conditions.

This work also highlights functional components and technical information on the design

of a surgical center and an analytical review of existing projects of the same kind in the

form of case studies. A space program was arrived at in order to elucidate the summation

of the whole efforts in the research and design of the proposed surgical center.

This project write-up is believed to offer a design guide to future surgical center planners

and designers, who may need information for the expansion of already existing health

facilities or planning of new ones.