Futureward
Advances in communication technology have completely redefined how
people work, socialize and relax. If technology has changed how we
behave, how have the spaces in which we reside changed to reflect our
new behaviour?
The medical infrastructure made possible by the combination of
technologies such as wallscreens, electronic health records, computer
vision, robotics, and network-aware medical instrumentation will
produce radical shifts in how patients heal and medical practitioners
work. The architecture of future hospitals must be conceived with
these shifts in mind.
Futureward anticipates how the diverse requirements of complex care patient rooms will change with advances in communication technology over the course of the next 20 years. It seeks to use those changes as design opportunities to create rooms that will help patients heal, family members feel at home, and practitioners work safely and
effectively.
Futureward is running in conjuction with Patrick Spear's Masters of Architecture thesis at the University of Toronto. Feel free to contact Patrick with comments or questions about Futureward (patrick@pfspear.net) or follow his progress on twitter - @pfspear.