Architecture For Crisis: Designing a Space Between Public Realms and Healthcare Facilities

Abstract

In 2020, when COVID-19 hit worldwide, many nations ran out of capacity for hospitals, treatments, and facilities, forcing hospitals to expand their facilities beyond their traditional physical boundaries. Even with advanced technologies, supply chains, and economic resources, the question remains for US healthcare and its communities: are people prepared for the next pandemic? Historically, pandemics created similar conditions where overflow facilities and field hospitals were set up in iconic sites such as New York’s Central Park during the tuberculosis epidemic. This thesis explores this connection between public space, healthcare, and architecture’s role in crisis events. When the pandemic hit, people built numerous permanent health facilities and temporary field hospitals, transforming public places into alternative care sites. The temporary structures built into the public domain were so abundant that most were dismantled and unused, foreclosing any possible long-lasting connection between the public realm and healthcare. On the other hand, permanent healthcare facilities, such as hospitals, operate on their own spatial and technological logic, often creating no broader connection to the surrounding context or community, creating a sense of barrier to the public. Typically, hospitals were designed so that only the served and service providers could access them, even though they had a large occupancy in the community sphere, opening questions related to broader notions of “care work” that often happens in the public domain. This thesis will explore the coexistence, revitalization, and regeneration of health facilities and public spaces. It studies the health and social risk factors based on the overlapping vulnerabilities of the high mortality rate, low community resilience, flood, rising sea levels, poverty, and the possibility of another pandemic. The thesis will research and apply the idea in Miami, Florida. Specifically, the thesis aims to study the current situation of existing healthcare facilities, how they responded to the last pandemic and natural disasters, the flexibility of these facilities, and community resilience. Based on these prompts, I propose redesigning the existing facilities to expand their capacity to serve more patients and accommodate additional staff by extending it into a community facility and turning it into a satellite hospital in the case of the following health crisis. It is also essential for the facility to remain engaged with the community and continue to be involved in public activities, which is a primary concern of this thesis.ning the existing facilities to expand their capacity to serve more patients and accommodate additional staff by extending it into a community facility and turning it into a satellite hospital in the case of the following health crisis. It is also essential for the facility to remain engaged with the community and continue to be involved in public activities, which is a primary concern of this thesis.