Case study Checklist for Hospital
Study
Semester VI Design Studio
1) Environment and micro-climate
Analyzing the surrounding environment and the micro-climate of that place will help
understand the reason of the orientation of the structure, the kind of roof chosen and
the materials used in its construction.
a) Materials Used
b) Orientation of buildings and departments
c) Vegetation
d) Topography of the site
e) Sun and wind
2) Site Planning and Landscape detailing
a) Location
b) History
c) Nearest Landmark
d) Major Access to Site – Entry, Exist, Emergency Entry, Service Entry.
e) Road Geometrics to site
f) Utilities
i) Water Supply, Electricity, telephone, sanitary, fire, stormwater drainage,
waste disposal etc.
g) Surrounding context
i) Neighbourhood structures, views-vistas, noise from streets etc.
h) Parking
i) Landscape features
j) Sustainable aspects if any. Eg. Rainwater harvesting etc.
3) User behaviour and requirements
Studying the functioning of a particular place, say a Hospital, is very important; without
which you will not be able to figure out the requirements and the area that should be
allotted for each of the requirements. Talking to people working at that place (Hospital),
will help you figure out if the requirements that are provided are adequate and he area
that is allotted is sufficient for its efficient working.
a) Doctors
b) Nurses
c) Patients (OP/IP)
d) Support Staff
e) Cleaning/Housekeeping Staff
4) Horizontal and vertical circulation
Horizontal circulation consists of elements such as the corridors and lobbies. Vertical
circulation includes elevators, staircases, ramps etc. The efficiency of the placement
of these services should be analyzed.
i) Horizontal and vertical zoning of spaces.
ii) Typology of spaces.
iii) Hierarchy of spaces.
5) Space Planning
a) Each level study
b) Vertical cores analysis
c) Any philosophy/theme in planning.
d) Circulation routes for public (horizontal, Vertical and Visual)
e) Circulation service routes (horizontal and Vertical).
f) Administration spaces, service spaces.
6) Structural details such as Column and Beam Design, Steel and Composite
structures
Understanding and analyzing the structural details is also important. For example,
large span structures such as Auditoriums use trusses or heavy I-section steel
beams and sometimes shell-roofing that involve construction of Ring beams whereas
in small span structures, RCC construction is used.
7) Materials Study
a) At site level –
i) Pavements
ii) Steps
iii) entrance flooring etc
b) At Building level
i) Flooring details of common spaces, passages.
ii) Atriums, Gift shops interiors, Reception.
iii) Façade treatments
iv) Roof details
v) Wall claddings
vi) Service spaces
vii) Any special features detailing.
8) Building Services such as Fire Alarm system, HVAC, Water supply systems
The working of Fire Alarm system, HVAC and Water supply systems should be
examined and their space requirements are to be analyzed.
a) Fire Safety
b) Water supply and Sanitation.
c) HVAC
d) Elevators
e) Electrical Ducts
f) Lighting ( Natural and Artificial)
g) Waste Disposal
h) Communication
i) Oxygen and other special services.
9) Utility and space enhancement
Study of Utilitarian facilities of a particular case is also important. Various measures
taken to enhance a particular space should be analyzed.
10) Design detailing considering the Barrier-free environment
Implementation of the Barrier-free architecture for comfortable access to disabled
people. Most public buildings have mandatory accessibility systems for the disabled
a) Disabled friendly toilets number per floor.
b) Ramps.
c) Other features for universal access.
11) Form and Function
Analysing the reason behind the form of that particular building…and how it merges
with the surrounding environment. Form and Function go hand in hand. The form of
the building should be able to convey the function of the building. A lot of Architects
say “Form follows Function”. As an example, an institutional building should not end
up looking like a museum or a disco. Some other Architects might disagree with that
philosophy. They’d say that the function of a structure keeps changing but changing
the form of the building everytime its function changes is not possible. They say,
Adopt a “Universal Design Scheme”.
12) Parking details and standards
Measure the allotted parking area on site, say for ten cars, then calculate the
average area for each car and compare it with the areas specified in TSS (Time
Savers Standards).
a) Entry and Exit ramps
b) Spaces and number of parking
c) Turning radius.
d) Signage.
e) Safety and security
f) Circulation routes for each user
g) Any advanced systems used for parking?
13) Socio-economic profile of user group and Activity study
It might also be important to find out the socio-economic profile of the people using
the services so as to determine their requirements and available resources.
a) Uses of different spaces
b) Activities in common areas, passages, around elevators, entrance exit.
c) Recreational areas
d) Food courts/cafes.
e) Seating spaces and resting spaces.
f) Study and analysis based on anthropometrics.