The Complete Hospitals ‘pattern book’ • A detailed series of 36 patterns which

We have set out a five-step process of questions that a leader charged with delivering a hospital can pose in order to ‘set the brief.’ These are intended to be supremely practical and to lead to specific answers which can be recorded. Key questions are:

Process and key questions for setting the brief for a Complete Hospital

• How wide is hospital’s catchment area? • How will staff and visitors travel to the hospital? • What opportunities are there for re-greened active and public transport? Can we create greenways, trams with trees? Can we plant trees? • How can the required carparking be economically and sympathetically incorporated? • How much interaction will/ should there be with the local neighborhood and community? • Does it have any overriding unique requirements such as access to countryside or proximity to specialist facilities? • How can we maintain permeability through the site for users and visitors and at different grades? • How can we relate the building to existing site and its imitate surroundings? • How can the hospital brief be subdivided to relate to surrounding building scale and urban grain? • How will it use and create public space? • How will hospital both stand out and fit in? • How will hospital express community identity and pride? • How will hospitals feel familiar and healing? • Which spaces do & don’t require natural light and/or ventilation? • How many single rooms will we need? • What different privacy levels are needed and how do we ensure they are achieved? • Where can we create alternative external circulations routes? • How much external space would benefit the hospital and where would it be best located in relation to other facilities? • How do we create a variety of outdoor green spaces with differing privacy levels? • How we connect upper floors with gardens? • Where should prominent continuous stairs be placed? • How do we avoid noise and light pollution? • What is the right hierarchy of construction for different elements of the facility? • How do we avoid short term technological obsolescence? • How can we use public funds efficiently? • How do we create buildings that people want to keep? • What materials with low embodied carbon would be suitable for your hospital? • What materials will have longevity appropriate to the different levels of hierarchy? • How can we use materials and architecture to ensure minimized requirements for long term maintenance? • How do we ensure ongoing focus on building maintenance for long term sustainability? • How do we ensure ongoing opportunities for patients to garden? • How do we support surrounding community?