Daylighting Patient Rooms in Northwest Hospitals

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Date

2005-10

Authors

Brown, G.Z.
Brickman, Johanna
Kline, Jeff
Livingston, Gina
McDonald, Brooks
Smith, Crawford
Staczek, David
Wilkerson, Mark

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Institute for Health in the Built Environment, University of Oregon

Abstract

This section is intended to enable hospital design professionals to quickly understand the basic principles of hospital patient room daylighting design in order to apply them in their current design projects. It delineates the important variables such as room width and depth, and describes how they interact. The section concludes with 10 prototype patient room designs that represent a range of possibilities for typical hospital design. The potential benefits from daylighting patient rooms are energy savings and increased patient well-being. Lights can be turned off when daylight is available, saving electrical energy. Turning off the electric lights can reduce internal heat gain, which in turn reduces the size of the cooling system, reducing both initial and operating costs. Proper placement of the windows increases the opportunity for views and the availability of daylight, both of which can improve patient wellbeing.

Description

135 pages

Keywords

hospital design, daylighting, patient well-being, Northwest

Citation