Lie back! Future hospitals could be resorts

Focus on wellness and preventative care is a driving principle of healthcare, so it’s no surprise that this is being reflected in the designs of hospitals. While no amount of preventative care will remove the need for emergency rooms, trauma centres and intensive care, the hope is that hospitals might expand their services that help keep people out of their sickest wards.

In the future, “hospitals can and should become more of a centerpiece of the community,” says Charles Griffin, president of the Academy of Architecture for Health. “They’re transitioning from a place for sickness to a place where you can learn about health.”

A growing body of research has suggested that betterdesigned hospitals are actually associated with shorter stays and better outcomes for patients. Griffin pointed to Florida Hospital Celebration Health as a living example of what hospitals in the future could look like. The hospital was designed to feel more like a hotel, with grounds that are “landscaped to create a superior environment for recovery”.

The resort-like hospital, built in 1997, is in the somewhat Stepfordian community of Celebration, the planned village that was designed by and is adjacent to Walt Disney World. “It was built specifically to be in Mickey Mouse land,” said Griffin. “They went way out of their way to focus on health and not illness.”

To that end, it was conceived as a hospital that felt more like a community centre — somewhere you might want to stick around. “The hospital’s strategy is to offer a wide range of health services under one roof, as if combining a doctor’s office with a health club and a restaurant,” The Orlando Sentinel reported when the project was enjoined. “That way, patients can get a physical or a lab test and finish up the visit with a swim or a class in nutrition at an activities centre.”

Luxury healthcare is not equally available to everyone. But taking a look at the almost surreal world of Celebration Health might provide a glimpse of the future of tomorrow’s hospitals.