For too many years hospital design has been limited to a narrow definition of function which has ignored the value of a therapeutic environment that can contribute positively to the healing process. Avanti Architects is committed to a more comprehensive philosophy, integrating social and therapeutic design issues with the resolution of clinical functions.

Hospitals are public buildings that fulfil an important role in their community. Their external form should guide strangers to entrances that lead to spaces which fulfil the social functions of reception, direction, refreshment and congregation.

The main routes through the building must be easily understood, animated wherever possible by external views or by sunlight and segregate casual traffic from the movement of patients in beds. The organisation of all patient and staff areas should be based on simple, well-ordered sets of spaces, which place patients at their ease and allow effective staffing. We are currently involved in hospital projects at various stages of development which exemplify this philosophy.