Hospital Building and Departmental Area Calculation: Comparison of 36 Recent North American Projects

Abstract

Background: Hospital trustees, administrators, and their consultants must base important budget decisions upon a projection of the size of proposed construction projects. The anticipated functions and an estimate of the space required are generally provided in a project program or project brief. The programming consultant, often part of the architect’s team, will calculate the physical area (square feet or square meters) required to perform the desired functions based on an understanding of demographics in the service area, services offered, the volumes of service required, and a historical understanding of space required to perform those services. Hospitals and hospital designs in North America have been changing. Plans must now address far higher percentages of outpatient care, accommodate new equipment modalities, and provide space to account for family presence in patient rooms. Aim: A study was undertaken to better understand whether the allocation of space in recently constructed hospital projects is different from the amounts of area devoted to various departments and functions in older projects. Method: In order to assure measurement consistency, a measurement methodology was developed and is reported elsewhere. Thirty-six recently constructed hospitals were measured. Results: The results provide new information about the allocation of space for nondepartmental functions within the overall building gross calculation. Many of the departmental space allocations fell within an expected range. Ultimately, significant detailed information about hospital area calculations is made available to the public because of this study.