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News Release
For Immediate Release (02/25/10)
New Article on Healthcare Design – A Smart Renovation Approach
Bernstein & Associates, Architects is pleased to announce the
publication of a new hospital design article focused on a smart
renovation approach. The article was published in the
Hospital Newspaper.
Highlights of this hospital architecture article :
- The meaning of the term “smart renovation”
- How to increase efficiency and create a healthier hospital
building for the patients, staff, and the environment
- Often a synonym for “green renovation”
- Best way to cut hospital energy costs is to use smarter
hospital design to utilize water, electricity, and fuels more
efficiently
- Healthier workplaces and homes can also result in healthier,
more productive staff, visitors and owners
- “Retro-commission” of hospital architecture
- Reasons to utilize green design in healthcare planning
- Green renovations, by increasing the efficiency of existing
lighting and HVAC systems, cost the consumer considerably less
to maintain.
- U.S. Federal Government has jumped on the green renovation
bandwagon.
- There are numerous ways that hospital architects can design a
hospital can be improved to reduce costs and lessen
environmental impact.
- Hospital Lighting Cost Reduction: better lighting is one of
the easiest ways to cut costs. - Basic improvements include
fluorescent light bulbs, motion sensors to turn lights off when
not needed, light sensors to dim the lights when natural
lighting is sufficient, and individual desk lamps in place of
overhead lighting.
- Break the lighting grid of hospital buildings into more
sections so workers only need to turn on the necessary overhead
lights.
- A design technique for a hospital architects to use natural
lighting more
- Hospital HVAC Cost Reduction: installing better insulation and
sealing heat leaks (which are found using an infra-red scanner,)
fixing faulty mechanisms within the HVAC systems, and installing
better-sealed windows, radiant in-floor heating, machines for
recovering heat from used hot water, ventilation controls for
individual desks, and programmable thermostats, energy-efficient
appliances and hands-free faucets, which can be charged by
ambient light.
- Some of the most popular and extravagant green ideas are solar
panels and wind turbines for supplemental energy, geo-thermal
heating, and Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs,) but these are
all large investments.
- A number of hospitals have reaped the rewards of investing in
better light and climate conditions and have seen huge returns
on this investment.
- Smart renovations may mean adapting to modern technologies as
well.
- The emphasis on smart design for hospitals and smart
renovation for hospitals has been a growing trend in recent
years.
- Implications for hospital plans
- For hospital facilities, the same rules apply as they do for
other buildings. The facility must have room for, and money to
fund, the necessary hospital planning. Surface changes to a
medical facility can have a large impact, though, and shouldn’t
be overlooked. Working to improve lighting conditions can make
medical professionals’ jobs much easier and make the hospital
experience friendlier and healthier for patients. Also, careful
troubleshooting of HVAC systems can save a facility a
significant amount of money.
- In terms of improving workflow, it can be a difficult but
rewarding process for medical facilities.
- With the new digital technologies, radiology rooms and other
parts of hospitals can and should be decentralized to facilitate
access to important medical information.
- Pneumatic tubing for the easy distribution of drugs is another
way that hospitals can speed up many processes to save time and
labor and, therefore, money.
© 2010 by William N. Bernstein, LEED®AP, AIA and Ian Janer. Well
known hospital architect Mr. Bernstein is a principal of
Bernstein & Associates, Architects (www.bernarch.com), which is
focused on smart renovations for hospital clients, with offices
in New York, Hartford, Princeton and Los Angeles. The firm is
known for innovative hospital planning, hospital design,
hospital architecture and hospital interior design. Additional
ways to follow the hospital design philosophy and hospital
design news, is through the firm’s hospital design blog at
www.bernarch.blogspot.com, as well as the firm’s hospital design
Twitter account at
www.twitter.com/hospitals
About Bernstein & Associates, Architects: Founded in 1990, this
company is an award-winning architectural firm and specializing
in healthcare design and hospital design. The firm takes pride
in providing the highest level of design work and client
service. Additional expertise: sustainable healthcare
facilities, energy saving measures for hospitals, cost reduction
strategies for hospitals, hospital safety and patient safety.
For more information about hospital planning, hospital
architecture, and healthcare interior design, please contact:
William N. Bernstein, LEED®AP, AIA
Principal - Bernstein & Associates, Architects - PLLC
59 West 19th Street - 6A New York, NY 10011
Office: 212.463.8200 - Fax: 212.463.9898
Email:
info@bernarch.com
www.bernarch.com
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