ABSTRACT
The chapter reviews the major changes in the design of the modern hospital by examining the waxing and waning of the influence of architects and architecture in the commissioning of hospitals over the twentieth century. By the 1960s, hospitals had reached a point of aesthetic stasis, yet even before that the seeds of rethinking the modern hospital had been sown, with evidence-based research that critically reflected upon and scientifically evaluated hospital spaces, the working practices of nurses and doctors, and patient experience. From this came a newly recharged emphasis on patient-centred design and an acknowledgement that specifically architectural solutions to providing flexibility in hospital planning might aid the constant need for growth and change. The changing role of architecture and design in the hospital, demonstrated through seven key sites of design, are each revisited and reconsidered in the light of contemporary healthcare needs: the bed, the nurse, the operating theatre, the spaces of diagnosis and therapy, the servicing of the hospital, the exterior expression of the hospital, and the changing nature of its site over time.
