Open Rooms for Future Health Care Environments

In recent years, many studies have revealed an increasing rate of hospital obsolescence, which reflects the velocity at which contemporary society and medical knowledge evolve. Recognizing this challenge, the main goal of contemporary and future hospital planning is to create flexible facilities capable of modifying and updating their services over time. Working from Professor Kendall’s Open Building theorization (Kendall, 1999) and current applications of hotel facilities plug-in rooms, a multidisciplinary research group from Alta Scuola Politecnica has developed the Open Room approach, an innovative design solution that is able to adapt to changing needs. The final product is a prefabricated room, transportable in three parts and able to accommodate a variety of fit-out changes. The interior space is defined by a series of customizable wall panels with foldable furniture and integrated functions, while the tri-partition of the substructures creates the possibility to remove the room and repurpose the building over time. The research work defined the conceptual and technological framework for different ongoing studies on economic feasibility and possible market application.