Design features in the entrance area of Dutch healthcare centers

Abstract: The design of healthcare buildings influences healthcare quality: hospital and ward design features can increase patient and staff satisfaction, improve treatment outcomes and reduce stress. However, due to societal changes, there is increasing attention to outpatient healthcare facilities close to the communities, such as healthcare centers (HCC). However, few studies concerned HCC. Nor has there been much attention to entrance areas of healthcare buildings. This study, therefore, investigates four health-related design features (i.e., privacy, nature, daylight, and wayfinding) in the entrance area of two award-winning Dutch HCC. Research question – How does the entrance design of HCC support views on nature, privacy, daylight, and wayfinding? This study compares two awarded HCCs based upon a selective thematic analysis focused on descriptions and observations of the four features in the HCC design. Data include descriptions by professionals, jury reports, floor plans and photos. The data show that views on nature are not mentioned in the data, privacy is mentioned and observed implicitly in both projects, and daylight and wayfinding are only observed in the floor plans and pictures. Most attention concerned daylight, wayfinding, and privacy in the waiting areas. However, while the importance of view of nature has been highlighted in many previous studies, these projects show little attention to view of nature and privacy for HCCs. The study revealed that the awarded healthcare buildings incorporate health-related design features, mostly implicit in the designs. However, in the descriptions by professionals and jury, they are not explicitly mentioned.