La configuración de las ciudades a partir de la informalidad

The trips to Europe where motivated by the same reason stated earlier. Three award winning hospitals selected for study were: Helsingør Psychiatric Hospital, Denmark; Cardiac Centre of the University Hospital, Germany and New Mestre hospital, Italy. Again due to proximity it was possible to study St. Franziskus-Hospital and Klininken der Stadt Koln gGmnH Krankenhaus Merheim in Germany and Helsingør General Hospital in Denmark. Up to five hours was spent at each of these hospitals paying attention to the way the wayfinding system is designed and how visitors made sense of the wayfinding cues. Worthy of mention are the challenges faced in obtaining basic information direct from hospital websites and onsite due to the language barrier. The problem was more pronounced in German and Italian hospitals where all literature obtained from information stalls was not in English. Verbal communication was also problematic in these two countries. The description of each hospital follows.

According to World Architecture News.com (2009) Helsingør Psychiatric Hospital is housed in a custom-made modern building presenting itself as anything but a hospital. It is said to be a safe and calm environment offering residential and public psychiatric treatment programs to the residents of Helsingør and beyond. Architonic (2006) observes that it is utilized as a best practices example for modern hospital design. Success of the project both in terms of design and operation, they further observe, has led to JDS Architects collaborating with some of the leading researchers and lecturers in hospital care.

Due to the sensitive nature of psychiatric services provided here the researcher was allowed only up to an hour to walk around the hospital taking photographs of the physical layout of the hospital where appropriate. An extra hour was spent with the Deputy Chief Executive (DCE) of the hospital who was keen to validate the claims that the modern design was having a positive impact on both the patients and staff’s morale. However, she was unable to

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comment on its impact on wayfinding performance stating that this subject was for designers. In addition the DCE spent an extra 30 minutes showing the researcher around Helsingør General Hospital which is connected to the psychiatric hospital by a suspended corridor. In the brief period spent walking around in both the psychiatric hospital it was possible to study how the physical properties of the layout contributes to efficient wayfinding. A brief description is given under section 4.5.3. In the general hospital the researcher found that the wayfinding system is heavily reliant on signage and verbal directions.

The Cardiac Centre of the University Hospital, Cologne is equipped with state of the art medical technology and welcomes its patients and visitors with a 20-metre high glassed entrance (Nickle-.Weller 2009, World Architecture News.com 2009). The structure-high reception hall is said to be more reminiscent of a hotel than of a clinic (World Architecture News.com 2009). The centre caters for specialities such as heart-thorax surgery, cardiology, paediatric cardiology and vascular surgery.

Despite the language barrier mentioned earlier, the researcher was able to find the way from her hotel to the hospital which is situated outside the city centre of Cologne and reachable by train. Directions to the hospital were obtained from the hotel’s information kiosk where the English translation was available. The trip requires three train changes, all signs on platforms are in German and stop announcements are made in the local language only. At the hospital more language challenges were faced at the reception. Through the use of inarticulate and elaborate sign language the receptionist appeared to understand the expression of the wish to look around the hospital. Permission was granted by nodding of the head followed by the German version of ‘please feel free to walk around’ The two hours spent walking in and around the hospital was sufficient to reach the conclusion that the physical spatial layout of the H-shaped building made it possible for the wayfinding system to rely less on signage and on verbal directions.

Klininken der Stadt Koln gGmnH Krankenhaus is an old non-profit hospital in Merheim It is part of the three hospitals of the city of Cologne gGmbH: Holweide, Merheim and Children's Hospital Amsterdam street (Riehl). The hospitals are said to be the largest providers of inpatient health services with more than 1500 beds and 3500 employees (Klininken der Stadt Koln gGmnH 2011). Like the Cardiac Centre it is also on the outskirts of

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the city centre of Cologne but in the opposite direction. A single 30 minute train journey is needed from the city centre.

Directions to the hospital were obtained from the hotel’s information kiosk and additional information in the form of street maps and verbal instructions were given at the tourist centre and at the underground train station. The verbal instructions were emphasised with gestures: lifting both hands to shoulder level and stretching them outward to indicate the need to get off the train at the correct destination (Merheim). Finding the hospital, which is 10 minutes walk away from the Merheim train stop, was possible without recourse to further verbal instructions. In the hour that was spent walking in and around the hospital it was possible to conclude that like most old and complex hospital settings the wayfinding system here heavily relies on signage and the practice of giving verbal instructions. Also due to the complex physical layout the placement of some signs confuses the visitors.

The St. Franziskus-Hospital is a traditional Catholic hospital in Cologne-Ehrenfeld. It offers different clinics including amongst others internal medicine, general and visceral surgery, trauma surgery, special orthopaedic surgery and joint replacement, spine surgery, arthroscopic surgery, radiology and accidents and emergency services. The St. Franziskus-Hospital is an academic teaching hospital with 300 beds and 600 employees. It treats an average of 11 000 inpatient and 25 000 outpatients per year (St Fraziskus-Hospital ND).

This hospital was discovered during the orientation walk the researcher decided to take on the first night of arriving in Cologne. After missing a crucial turn on the way back to the hotel the researcher found herself completely lost and disoriented. The hospital was the only place she felt was safe to ask for directions. During this brief encounter, it was possible to tell that this hospital too relies on signage and the practice of giving verbal directions supported by street maps. The receptionist, who strongly advised against walking back to the hotel in the dark, sent the researcher off with a set of verbal instructions given in understandable English plus a street map. Two train changes were needed despite the fact that the hotel was only 30 minutes’ walk away. The hotel was found after an anxious one and half hours of trying to follow the verbal instructions given in German by random people met on the streets.

New Mestre hospital is a Venice-Mestre Hospital general care hospital with 680 patient care beds, an emergency care centre and advanced surgical facilities. According to

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Archinnovations (AI) its more conventional design is the product of understanding that a hospital should be conceived as part of the healing. Visitors arriving by car or train enter the hospital on a gently sloping green ramp and enter directly into a Lobby, which is also a reception hall for day patients. Various public facilities such as shops and cafes are contained within the hospital (AI 2010).

Finding the way to the hospital from the hotel involved a 30-minute trip on the waterbus from Venice Island to Roma Square and an additional 60 minutes on an ordinary bus from the square to New-Mestre. As is the case in Germany all signs here are in Italian and stop announcements are made in the local language only. This is the case too at the hospital. Efforts to engage in conversation with the receptionist at the hospital were not as successful as those at the Cardiac Centre in Cologne. The lady behind the desk shook her head sideways and said ‘No English please’ to communicate she did not speak English. Nonetheless, as is the case with most public places such as hospitals, it was possible to walk around taking appropriate photographs of the layout. Five hours was spent studying the impact of the physical spatial layout on visitors’ ability to find their way and the way in which the hospital’s wayfinding system has been designed. Here is a hospital design that appears to have incorporated wayfinding right from the beginning. Section 4.5.1 offers a brief description of the wayfinding system.