HEALTH CARE ARCHITECTURE IN SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL: EVALUATING ACCESSIBILITY AND FIRE SAFETY IN LARGE HOSPITALS

Abstract

This article describes and discusses procedures of scientific and technical interest for applying the Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE), especially certain questions related to accessibility and fire safety in specialized and complex hospital buildings. For this purpose, the building occupied by the Orthopedics and Traumatology Institute (IOT) of the General Hospital (Hospital das Clinicas) of the University of Sao Paulo(USP), Brazil was chosen, as this institute is one of the most important health centers in Latin America in its specialty. With approximately 25,000m2 distributed throughout nine floors, the IOT offers services of a public nature to about 1,000,000 patients each year. Approximately 200 physicians and 890 nurses work in this building. The research described here was carried out in 2005 and involved teachers and graduate students of the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the same University of Sao Paulo. The work consisted of the application of various methods for evaluating performance in use and the final results were organized in a concise, user-friendly way in discovery maps. These maps, which bring together synthesis of the different evaluation standards regarding the building (opinions of users and appraisal specialists, the pertinent legislation, and recommendations for each critical point by floor and by sector), are a valuable tool for decision making by the building’s managers in terms of interventions, remodeling projects, expansion and the implementation of improvements.