The image that we usually have of hospital environments is often linked to a minimal, colorless and sterile image, a design that usually evoke anxiety and discomfort. Today numerous studies about green and its uses and benefits allow us to change the rigid and monotonous design of hospitals and healthcare environments in general. In fact, revisions of the standard design model of healthcare environments have begun, such as the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in Singapore, the Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, the Jurong Community Hospital, the UMC Utrecht, the San Matteo Hospital in Padova and others, which have integrated natural solutions starting from ground settings, vertical gardens and natural ceilings for the interiors, while large green facades, hanging gardens and parks for the outdoor. The new concept of “Biophilic Design”, that consists in the use of native natural materials of the project area, pushes us more and more to integrate nature with modern architecture, above all for the results gathered during the years that show a general wellbeing increase of users who live the environments designed with Biophilic Design.

Green hospitals sensitive to eco-sustainability and recycling of materials are increasingly all over the world, with a majority in the United States but also in the United Kingdom, Canada and Singapore.

In Italy various measures are being implemented that allow us to pursue the same line of the above mentioned countries.

The world ranking, drawn up on Healthcare Administration Degree Programs, shows the 30 top green Hospitals in the world.

Specific parameters have made it possible to draw up a ranking of the most advanced hospital buildings and with a strong interest in sustainability and bio-architecture, in fact the measures taken to improve energy efficiency are significant, providing waste recycling systems or plants for the reuse of rainwater, or simply improving the structure of the building using technical and innovative solutions related to biophilic design with green systems.

We are not talking only of new buildings but also hospitals that are facing a real conversion to sustainable architecture, bringing a structural renovation of the building with the inclusion of new systems that allow them to align with the positive trend in eco-health, improving energy performance and in general making facilities greener.

The summit of the ranking is dominated by the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The US hospital structure has been awarded the LEED Platinum certification, the highest LEED certification, thanks to the optimization of energy, light and water use, as well as the use of sustainable materials and strategies.

A certified LEED structure with low water and electricity consumption implies an economic saving for families and traders belonging to the community, reduces the emission of greenhouse gases and contributes to a healthier environment for employees and users.

ECOSUSTAINABLE HEALTH FACILITIES IN ITALY

Hospital facilities like the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh fortunately not only exist abroad, in fact in Italy are also emerging ecosustainable sanitation facilities.

We must mention the Meyer in Florence, which was the first facility in Italy to win the record in the field of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability, introducing advanced systems of ventilation, air conditioning and lighting to minimize energy consumption and create a better thermal balance inside. The external green areas have received the Bio-Habitat certification that certifies the management of green spaces according to biological principles.

In addition, many Italian health facilities are participating in the European RES – Renovable Energy Sources project, whose objective is to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of over 15,000 existing hospitals throughout Europe: the European Institute of Oncology, the Humanitas Institute in Rozzano, the hospitals in Ravenna, Rimini, Forlì, Cesena, Genoa and Turin, the San Matteo Hospital in Padua.

For the latter Verde Profilo supplied a natural wall with MOSSwall®, the innovative system for ecological walls made of stabilized lichen.

Real ecological walls as they don’t require water and light but simply a constant humidity level of the internal environment. Furthermore the solution is certified for fire and soundproofing.

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