EKH Children Hospital
The Bangkok-based design practice IF (Integrated Field) has recently completed “EKH Children Hospital” that located in Samut Sakhon, Thailand.
A hospital is the kind of place most people would rather avoid as much as they can. We have witnessed more medical institutions? attempt to create a more pleasant and friendlier environment, some with the architecture and interior decoration that are almost equivalent to a shopping mall or hi-end hotels. If such built environment can make the feeling of going to a hospital for us adults more tolerable somehow, what about the experience of the little ones"
Photography by © Ketsiree Wongwan
For the kids, luxury isn?t something that can comfort them from the pain, fear for needles or even the bitterness of the medicine. We, therefore, look for the things that will bring them happiness throughout their experience at the hospital. With the children?s mindset, we discover that ?fun? is what every child instinctively looks for. Despite their different backgrounds, all kids want to live their lives looking for something fun to do. Using this element of ?fun? as the key becomes a great challenge considering how we have to approach the design from the perspective of a child (which we, unfortunately, don?t have that much left) while constantly reminding ourselves that we would actually have to make a hospital a ?fun? place. Photography by © Ketsiree Wongwan
Such thought process leads to the design...