The Need for Responsive Environments: Bringing Flexibility to Clinic Spaces
Daniel Lu, Semiha Ergan, David Mann, Katharine S. Lawrence · Construction Research Congress 2022 · 2022
The number of outpatient care facilities (e.g., primary care clinics, pediatric care centers) in the US has increased 51% in the last decade, with significant technological implementations (e.g., electronic health records, telemedicine). These trends are compelling outpatient practices to improve their flexibility in providing care to meet this rising demand, including tailoring building spaces to changing needs of users (e.g., physicians, patients). Responsive environments can perceive their users’ needs and interactions in spaces, the technologies they use, and provide mechanisms for prompt transformations of spatial features (e.g., size of space, furniture layout, and temperature). Previous research studies have developed innovative responsive environment applications such as context aware lighting systems and architectural robotics but have yet to address situations unique to outpatient clinic settings. This paper presents research findings from investigations with healthcare professionals that map out the needs for and challenges in transforming existing spaces for increased demand and technology assisted practice. This paper will also discuss the challenges and opportunities for implementing responsive environments, specifically highlighting major events of spatial transformations relevant to outpatient settings, such as detected user activities, relevant sensor and software systems, and transformed architectural elements and spatial features (e.g., walls, furniture, and lighting). Findings from this paper serve as a basis for frameworks for designing new outpatient clinic spaces and capturing requirements for responsive environments.