Date of Award
Spring 6-1-2021
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Architecture (MArch)
Department
Architecture
First Advisor
Anne Tate
Second Advisor
Jonathan Knowles
Abstract
Due to COVID-19, uncertainties and significant changes have been occurring around the world, especially in the U.S. The future is always ambiguous but it will lead to breakthroughs. Emerging issues are the vulnerability of previous conventional design solutions, especially of the healthcare-related architecture and urban planning.
This thesis focuses on helping construct a new healthcare system, which could be used during either a pandemic or post-pandemic era, by designing a local community clinic. In fact, public health clinics are always needed and expected to be more flexibly adjustable and up-gradable. Those new clinics play a very important role since the latest types of aerosolized respiratory viruses have transformed faster and more fatal. For instance, only in a twenty-year period, there were so many deadly infectious viral outbreaks, such as SARS in 2002, H1N1 in 2009, MERS in 2012, Ebola in 2014, and COVID-19 in 2019. Therefore, the main purpose of new-generation clinics is not only to support and protect people from the emerging threats, but also to aim to an active preparation that could adapt to any possible pandemics in the future.
The resulting problems of COVID-19 outbreak in medical facilities are in deed worldwide. The increasing number of patients exacerbates any healthcare system, which has not yet been purposefully designed for infectious design control. The mode of disease transmission – in this case, airborne – identifies design problems, such as overcrowded areas and poorly ventilated hospitals. Moreover, even though wearing facial masks helps to decrease aerosolized respiratory droplets to some degrees, healthcare facilities are highly vulnerable sites. Thus, they could easily become hotspots, and spread the illness via human contacts even more.
Recommended Citation
Le, Nhu, "Community Healthcare Clinic - adaptation system to the pandemic and post pandemic periods" (2021). Masters Theses. 648.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/648
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Comments
View exhibition online: Nhu Thi Quynh Le, Community Healthcare Clinic - Adaptation system to the pandemic and post pandemic periods