title: Open building and flexibility in healthcare: strategies for shaping spaces for social aspects.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The fast development of technology and medicine influences the functioning of healthcare facilities as health promoter for the society, making the flexibility a fundamental requirement. Among the many ways to ensure adaptability, one that allows change without increasing the building's overall size is the Open Building approach.
  
  
  METHODS
  Starting from the analysis of the State-of-the-Art and many case-studies, eight parameters of evaluation were defined, appraising their relative importance through a weighting system defined with several experts. The resulting evaluation tool establishes in what measure healthcare facilities follow the Open Building principles.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The tool is tested to ten case-studies, chosen for their flexible features, in order to determine his effectiveness and to identify projects' weaknesses and strengths.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that many Open Building's principles are already in use but, only through a good design thinking, it will be possible to guarantee architectures for health adaptable for future social challenges.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Architettura, Ingegneria delle Costruzioni e Ambiente Costruito (ABC), Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Capolongo
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Architettura, Ingegneria delle Costruzioni e Ambiente Costruito (ABC), Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Maddalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buffoli
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Architettura, Ingegneria delle Costruzioni e Ambiente Costruito (ABC), Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nachiero
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Architettura, Ingegneria delle Costruzioni e Ambiente Costruito (ABC), Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tognolo
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Architettura, Ingegneria delle Costruzioni e Ambiente Costruito (ABC), Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Eleonora
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zanchi
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Architettura, Ingegneria delle Costruzioni e Ambiente Costruito (ABC), Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gola
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D005160:Facility Design and Construction / Q000379:methods*; D005544:Forecasting; D006268:Health Facilities / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D012931:Social Environment