Site visit New Royal Adelaide hospital - Essay Example

New Royal Adelaide Hospital Site Visit Number I have often desired to visit the New Royal Adelaide Hospital (for various personal reasons), but for one reason or the other, I have always been left unable to accomplish this deep seated desire. However, recently, on Monday 19th May 2015, I chanced upon the glorious opportunity to do just that. Guided through the hospital by the generous Layton Waters, it couldn’t have gotten any better as I left the hospital at the end of the visit with a plethora of information on different issues about this special facility.

The following is a short report about my visit to the hospital. Construction of the New Royal Adelaide Hospital begun in 2010, and at the time of my visit, the construction and commissioning had all been completed. Before me was a complete 9 level structure equipped with a car parking facility about 3 meters below the ground level. The entire facility has no basement. The building is shaped like a rectangle and broken up to resemble a chocolate bar in which 7 buildings are divided by 200mm gap connections.

A visit to the patient section revealed single patient rooms that were aimed at enhancing the privacy of all the facility’s patients (and their visitors). There were approximately 800 wards that were all appropriately furnished with viewing panels. Furthermore, the patient rooms had special windows that were earthquake resistant to offer protection to the resident patient in case of an artificial or natural disturbance. I also noticed that the center had its own pharmacy, and as I would come to learn, this was purposed to arrest emergency situations when a patient was in need of urgent medication or attention.

Apart from this, the facility further cements its position as one of the largest projects in the southern hemisphere, as it stands, by boasting 9mm columns and other building innovations that effectively ensure maximum reduction/ elimination of vibrations in the building and its surrounding especially during delicate patient surgeries that would otherwise be compromised in the wake of such mechanical disturbances. In addition, the make up of the hospital is a healthy mixture of reinforced concrete and steel which ensures the whole structure has more strength (2000 cfa piles).

There are equally separations in the structure of the building which suitably permits movement of the building during such occurrences as earthquakes. The connections between the buildings, however, are well placed to allow for smooth flow of services from one building to the next. One side of the hospital is much shorter than the other side as a result of airport restrictions for landing. At the airport entrance is an open courtyard. Similar to the technique employed at Birmingham, transformers are used to allow illumination of the courtyard grounds.

Throughout the hospital, Kogen diesel and gas are installed to provide sufficient emergency power that can last over 48 hours. I found the idea behind the design of level 2 quite intriguing. This was the emergency level. It had wider corridors and lifts to aid speedy movement during such urgent life saving activities. There was also hepper filter, special kind of air filter, in the infectious level to filter the air. Level one had the largest pipes, however. The structure of the New Royal Adelaide Hospital, in conclusion, is indeed a modern genius and innovation that conveniently suits the contemporary health care center.

From earthquake tolerant installations to innovations that permit emergency operations, and so on, the architecture and the construction of the hospital is ideal for a hospital. It allows for maximum patient care as well as aiding the medical staff in their endeavors. Apart from these, the building shows concern for the environment and the neighboring communities by installing measures and protocols that eliminate chances of environmental degradations and ensure no infection spread from the hospital to the surrounding communities.

The building also offers services such as supermarkets, restaurants, cafes, banks and post offices, and over 2,300 car parks that suits the work force, patients, visitors (such as myself) and the entire community.