| Hospitals are difficult buildings to operate, build and design. Their complex mechanical systems are strictly regulated for performance; design must be carefully planned in order to improve recovery rates in patients; and operation and maintenance is a non stop 24 hour and seven days a week all year long task. Besides these unique conditions, hospital facilities are considered to be among the top consumers of energy in the commercial sector. Hospital construction adds to the more than three billion tons of annually consumed raw materials and the 30 percent of CO2 emissions that construction and use of buildings in all sectors produce in United States. Another conflict that has generated an interest in the health care sector is that an estimated ;The objective of this research is to develop strategies and recommendations for sustainable hospital construction in the City of New York. Urban sustainability has become a pressing task on the city agenda already. This paper extracts sustainable technologies and practices for active systems and material selection for the urban hospital. Finally, in order to understand and propose changes, a comparative study case analysis on NYC hospitals was done. The findings allow recognition of areas where improvement is needed and initial steps could be taken. Among those steps: A more integrative and collaborative delivery system, smaller pilot projects and/or retrofit buildings where new technologies and ways of doing business could be tried; better familiarity with the soon to be released LEED for healthcare system; and more commitment and leadership by the owner in sustainable practices. |
