The Lighting of Compact Plan Hospitals

Abstract

The use of the ‘compact’ or ‘race-track’ plan for hospital buildings in which patient rooms are situated on the outside perimeter of the building, and service and ancillary rooms in the core, separated by a corridor, implies the use of artificial lighting in the inner areas throughout the day. The design of the lighting must permit movement between the wards and the internal rooms without introducing impressions of gloominess or deprivation, or the shock of sudden return to daylight, according to the direction of movement in the daytime. At night time, the reverse situation obtains, and the staff must be immediately capable of a reasonable level of visual discrimination when entering a darkened ward from an illuminated service room.

A study has been carried out at the Building Research Station, using a full scale mock-up of a ward unit built inside a laboratory, to determine the appropriate levels of illumination in the internal rooms and corridor in relation to the lighting in the ward during daytime, evening and night. An illumination of between 30 and 40 lm/ft² is recommended for the internal rooms in daytime, dropping to 20 lm/ft² in the evening and night time. An illumination of between 20 and 25 lm/ft² on the floor of the corridor is recommended for daytime, which should be lowered to 15 lm/ft² during the evening and between 0.5 and 1.0 lm/ft² at night time.