ARCHITECTURE AND THE COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE CONSUMER: A STATEWIDE INITIATIVE — Verderber 2003

Since the beginning of environmental design research, one of the primary goals has been to improve the quality of life of building inhabitants by increasing the quality of the built environment. Few systematic efforts within a single protocol have addressed the needs of the user-as-consumer over the years of research in healthcare settings. In response, a statewide public-sector health organization in the United States initiated a concerted, long-term campaign in 1990. The primary goal has been to increase the quality of newly constructed community health facilities for end users as patients and care providers, while also acknowledging the critical role of intermediate users as owner-clients. This article provides an update on the status of this statewide user-focused program after nearly ten years of deployment. The writers distinguish between the roles, functions, and sometimes contradictory objectives of end consumers and intermediary consumers in this report. The accomplishments and problems are discussed, as well as the ramifications for facility planning and architecture in the United States and worldwide.

Verderber, S., & Refuerzo, B. J. (2003). RESEARCH-BASED ARCHITECTURE AND THE COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE CONSUMER: A STATEWIDE INITIATIVE. Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, 20(1), 57–67. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43030643