Open Building In Healthcare Infrastructure

One Week  Intensive Studio With Phil Astley 

Workshops & Lectures

Students had the privilege of viewing Professor Phil Astley's lectures on healthcare infrastructure, well-being and System Separation, which is another term for Open Building. Although these seminars were more focused towards human healthcare, the same decision making principles could be incorporated into our individual thesis projects. The three rigorous group workshops that the students were involved in demonstrated this as they focused on the following aspects:

Workshop 1: Drivers For Change - Students were asked to choose one individual thesis project site to formulate a schematic table indicating various components that arose during site visits, site mapping and site analysis. At a strategic level, students were asked to place these elements in levels of high uncertainty, low uncertainty, high importance and low importance.

Workshop 2: Potential Users - Students were asked to identify the various users that could possibly inhabit the selected site and what types of activities they would be involved in with the program(s) chosen within the thesis project.

Workshop 3: Scenario Planning - Going back to the drivers of change table, students had to select three components that were placed within the high importance and low uncertainty bracket and formulate a timeline of events pertaining to those items from the year 2015 until after the year 2050 in order to aid in the narrative of the thesis project.

These three quick decision making tools were really helpful in grounding one into their own individual project and identifying the key elements that relate to one's own site. 

Healthcare Technology Presentation

During the workshops and lectures presented by Phil Astley, the class was split into groups of two in order to research topics relating to various forms of healthcare systems and their impacts on the patients and medical professionals that utilize them. The topic that I researched was on a software system or mobile technology system that manages electronic patient information, diagnostics and results.


In order to achieve effective patient information systems, one needs to maintain the connection between the individual and the data collected over a period of time as well as to have the data collected available to other healthcare providers when needed. This valuable data catalogue stores concise important records of the health of the individual. The collected information in this catalogue can aid healthcare individuals in communities, regions and countries upon where the public health policy is evident which includes monitoring and evaluation of patients, surveillance of disease, human resource management and operational research as shown in the bubble diagram in the image above.

The computer software system that I chose to research was the NextGen Ambulatory EHR version 5.8. It is a concise tabulated record of a patient which includes their personal information and details of any healthcare procedures that were undertaken from patient check-in to check-out. The software system has an easy to use drop-down menu system which holds information on the patient's healthcare history, problem list, diagnostic studies, medical, surgical and interim reports as well as healthcare guidelines. 

The main constraint with this system is that towards low-income countries, as they have struggled to initiate large-scale electronic medical information systems. While some low-income countries have been able to attract technical and financial resources to install patient information systems at some sites, these require significant investments for their successful implementation. These systems require a large amount of resources including skilled labour, technological and financial means, which can be difficult to obtain in low-income areas. In addition to the cost of the computer hardware and software, the systems used require electricity, a controlled environment, training, maintenance and support in order for it to work efficiently. 

Many patients receive services from separate facilities and health practitioners, therefore, an electronic information system could compile the information and make it accessible to other health care professionals that would aid in the early detection of a particular disease that the patient could contract.

Electronic health systems must be built in a way to facilitate the exchange of data and, therefore, a standard must be applied in order to facilitate clear communication between individuals using the system within a single clinic and across other facilities as well. There also needs to be clear legislation that administers patient privacy and protects the security of health information for records in electronic format. Another key factor would be the development of well-trained health information professionals that will have the knowledge to utilize the software system.

The system could be utilised between departments or wards within a healthcare facility. If more healthcare facilities will possess the appropriate funding to implement this electronic resource, more medical centres will be able to send and receive patient, diagnostic reports and results with ease between each other within a larger area, such as between suburbs and provinces or states, for better communication between patients and healthcare professionals. This trend will continue as improvements are made in computer hardware, software and telecommunication infrastructure as well as when countries will develop the skills necessary to implement electronic data storage and transmission systems.

Pecha Kucha Thesis Presentation

On the final day of the week intensive with Professor Phil Astley, students had to compile a three minute PowerPoint presentation consisting of no more than ten slides on their thesis projects. The content had to explain the progress of the project's concept themes, analysis as well as the way forward into the design development process. This benefited me in taking all the graphics as well as my concept and site information that I have gathered thus far so that I could summarize the key aspects and program strategies in my design project. It was a good indication in what I should start focusing on for the next portion of my narrative.

Through detailed analysis of the Newtown precinct, inclusive of its current activities, the aim is to formulate a design intervention that would potentially create a positive social impact in Newtown North, which will possess various activities pertaining to youth culture.

The users I will be focusing on are young adults within society. Youth culture and sub-culture aids a group of individuals in determining one’s identity and to understand the social norms and values within society. These principles, however, generally differ from the main culture of older generations within our civilization.

Taking the understanding of the meaning of youth culture and sub-culture, it was further investigated within the Newtown district. Seeing that Newtown has been earmarked as the cultural precinct since the mid 1900’s, it justifies that youth culture and sub-culture would exist in this area.

The Newtown district is divided into three main sub-precincts which act as pull-factors into the area. They comprise of the Market Precinct, located towards the north of Mary Fitzgerald Square; as well as the Transport and Electrical & Worker’s Precincts, located towards the south west and east respectively.

Through the mapping of the sub-precincts as well as the existing formal and informal youth culture activities, one can automatically notice the drivers within the area. Inclusive of the cultural buildings within the Transport and Market precincts, Metro Mall Taxi Rank and Newgate Shopping Centre are also seen as pull factors.

Pedestrians have ease of access to the site within walking distance from the location of the public transport hub, which is Metro Mall Taxi Rank. From the mapping done, the idea is to transform Old Park Station into a new pull-factor for the precinct; introducing a space that the young adults can utilize according to their specific interests.

By taking the initial steps of introducing potential vertical as well as horizontal usage schemes and investigating how users will occupy the space, it will act as a platform of understanding spatial systems in design decision-making within an Open Building framework.

The next steps would be to carry on interpreting key findings and incorporate them into the site; to formulate a system of programs that will act as drivers into the site in the form of fixed and temporary elements; and through trial and error, determine which programs will be fixed and temporary.