The Practice of Integrated Design: The Case Study of Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Singapore Tan Shao Yen 31 st January 2012 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the regulations for the Degree of Masters of Science in Sustainable Building Design in BCA Academy - University of Nottingham, 2012.
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The Practice of Integrated Design:
The Case Study of
Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Singapore
Tan Shao Yen
31st January 2012
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the regulations for the Degree of
Masters of Science in Sustainable Building Design in
BCA Academy - University of Nottingham, 2012.
1
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr Peter Rutherford, for the inspiration,
recommendation and continuous personal guidance. The gratitude is also extended to
all the lecturers and tutors from Department of Architecture and Built Environment, for
their dedication despite the geographical, temporal and scheduling challenges between
the United Kingdom and Singapore.
Special thanks go to the BCA Academy and their staff who made the course possible in
the first place. Immense efforts had been put in by them into the logistics and
coordination that had gone into balancing the needs of the academic programme and
the part-time working students, given their diverse background and career demands.
Sincere thanks to the exemplary Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, especially Mr Donald Wai
Wing Tai, for granting visits to and information regarding the Hospital, allowing
invaluable insights into the subject matter discussed in this dissertation.
I am indebted to my company, CPG Consultants Pte Ltd, for the support I have received
from and the inconveniences my colleagues have put up with, in order for me to pursue
the course. Special thanks to Mr Pang Toh Kang, Mr Khew Sin Khoon, Mr Lye Kuan
Loy, Mr Kok King Min for their understanding and support. I would like also to thank
Dr Lee Siew Eang, Mr Glenn Bontigao, Mr Lee Soo Khoong, Mr Lim Lip Chuan, Mr
Jerry Ong, Ms Pauline Tan, Mr Toh Yong Hua, Mr Ng Kim Leong, Mr Soon Chern Yee,
Ms Wong Lee Phing, Mr Yeo Tiong Yeow, Dr Nirmal Kishnani, and Mr Sng Poh Liang
for sharing insights, experience and information regarding the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital
project.
Words cannot express the love, support and sacrifice I have received from my family,
without which it is hard to imagine how I would be able to juggle work, study and
family; a big thank you to you all.
2
Abstract
Contemporary challenges have necessitated the application of sustainable principles and
practices to the building construction industry. In order to do so, integrated design
processes and practices have come to the fore as an important aspect in the delivery of
sustainable buildings. In recent years, sustainable building projects that purport to be
based on integrated design have emerged and appear to be gathering momentum in
different parts of the world, including Singapore. Such an integrated approach is backed
extensively in the literature, and as such numerous questions have been raised with
respect to integrated design in practice. These include what is a sustainable design brief;
how do the various stakeholders play out their roles in the integrated design process;
what are the challenges and mindset changes required by the stakeholders in a building
project to ensure the successful realization of integrated design?
Completed in 2010, the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in Singapore provided an interesting
case study to study the integrated design process in action. As stated in its design brief, it
aims to be a healthcare building for the future through, first, achieving a “visually
pleasing design that sustain with time” (Alexandra Hospital, 20051); and second, the
“ease and low cost of maintainability resulting from careful overall design and material
selection.” (Ibid.) The outcome of the design necessitated close collaboration between its
many stakeholders through an integrated manner. The aim of this dissertation is
therefore to first, examine how the design of Khoo Teck Puat Hospital has embraced
certain principles of sustainability; second, how elements of the integrated design
process have successfully contributed to such design outcomes, as well as practical
challenges faced in the integrated design process. This dissertation concludes by making
recommendations that aim to overcome the practical challenges, thereby facilitating the
integrated design process, and hence improving the quality of sustainable building
design.
Keywords: Sustainable building design, Integrated design, Sustainable Healthcare Architecture.
1 Tender briefing materials by Alexandra Hospital, the forerunner of Khoo Teck Puat Hospital.
3
Declaration
I understand the nature of plagiarism and I am aware of the University’s policy on this. I
certify that this dissertation reports original work by me and that all the sources I have
used or quoted have been indicated by means of completed references.
Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................................... 4
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................................. 9
List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................. 10
Figure 4.11 Iterative process model during the schematic design phase
Figure 4.12 Bioclimatic response of KTPH: sunpath
Figure 4.13 Bioclimatic response of KTPH: prevalent wind directions
Figure 4.14 Aspect ratio of the various block
Figure 4.15 Critical review based on ‘Environmental Design Guide for Naturally Ventilated
and Daylit Offices’
Figure 4.16 Design study 1 for façade shading of the naturally ventilated ward tower
Figure 4.17 Design study 2 for façade shading of the naturally ventilated ward tower
Figure 4.18 Design study 3 for façade shading of the naturally ventilated ward tower
Figure 4.19 Design developed from Option 3: Fully height louvred façade and light shelf
maximizes natural ventilation and daylight
Figure 4.20
Design developed from Option 3: Effect of rain needs to be considered in the
tropics. These diagrammes indicate integration of monsoon windows providing
ventilation during rain, even when the louvred windows are closed
Figure 4.21
Interior of naturally ventilated ward: Façade system comprising louvred wall,
light shelves, and monsoon window. Natural ventilation is supplemented with
individually controlled fans
Figure 4.22 Iterative process model during the late design development (DD2) phase
Figure 4.23 Sampling points measured in wind tunnel study
12
List of Figures (Cont’d)
Figure 4.24 A sample of the air velocity profile across a typical ward at 1.2m height @ open,
50% open and closed conditions
Figure 4.25 A sample of the pressure coefficients chart across the façade of the subsidised
ward tower obtained as boundary conditions for the CFD study
Figure 4.26 1:20 Wind tunnel model used for the study
Figure 4.27
Subsidized ward tower façade showing solar screen to provide shade and wind
wall to induce air movement. Greenery is also integrated into the façade to
enhance visual relief
Figure 4.28 Design drawing showing location of exhaust nozzle integrated into the façade,
and the direction of throw to cool the landscaped roof terraces
Figure 4.29 CFD Simulation showing approximately 2°C reduction in temperature at the
roof terrace, delivering cooling sensation to users
Figure 4.30 CFD simulation showing the throw of exhaust nozzle, and the wind speed
gradient. A 2m/s wind speed is achieved at the end of the throw
Figure 4.31
Noise level (dBA) at various distances (m) from the nozzle diffuser. The noise
level at landscaped roof terrace at 5m away from nozzle diffuser is 43dBA,
which is equivalent to outdoor ambient sound level
Figure 4.32
Selection of component: Oscillating nozzle diffusers tested to ISO 5135 1997 and
ISO 3741 1999 on sound power level performance to allow for better throw
distribution
Figure 4.33 Conceptual diagramme of irrigation system and built environment as part of
natural systems
Figure 4.34 Schematic of irrigation system, drawing water from Yishun
Figure 5.1 KTPH: Post Occupancy Studies
Figure 5.2 KTPH: Sustainable Attributes mapped onto the Sustainable Healthcare
Architecture Model
Figure 5.3 KTPH Integrated design process: questions framed with the IDP Mental Model
13
Chapter 1.0: Introduction
“Some people prefer to think of health as the
absence of disease, while others insist that
health is a state of physical, mental, and
social well being.”
Ted Schettler
“With twenty-first-century businesses
increasing emphasis on triple-bottom-line
imperatives – not only for competitive
advantage but also for planetary survival –
healthcare’s singular blend of
environmental, economic and social agendas
is a model worthy of replication by other
sectors.”
Robin Guenther and Gail Vittori
14
Chapter 1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background and Context of Healthcare Architecture
Healthcare architecture consists of a wide range of building types, ranging from small
neighbourhood clinics to large hospital complexes; from the general hospitals providing
a comprehensive range of medical services to the specialized hospitals that focus on a
selected field of medical services and/or research. Large-scale hospitals are arguably one
of the most complex building types, having to accommodate a wide range of functions
and services, for example, outpatient facilities, diagnostic and treatment facilities,
accident and emergency facilities, operating theatres, clinical laboratories, radiography
and imaging facilities, administration, food services and housekeeping, etc. The diverse
range of functions and specialized needs require the support of sophisticated and
advanced systems, for example, life support, telecommunication, space comfort and
hygiene, as well as building services that have to be robustly designed (Carr, 2011).
The complex physical functions of large healthcare facilities are to be considered in
relation to the network of stakeholders that are involved with large scale hospitals,
Figure 1.1 The complex relationships between the hospital functions. Source: Carr, R. F. ‘Hospital’ in
Whole Building Design Guide. Internet WWW: http://www.wbdg.org/design/hospital.php
15
including patients, doctors, nursing staff, administration staff, servicing staff, visitors,
social and volunteer workers, maintenance crew, suppliers, etc. Conflicting demands
arising out of the myriad of needs and requirements are only to be expected. Good
healthcare design not only seeks to resolve these conflicts, but provide an integrated
solution that addresses the following (Ibid.):
1. Efficient operation and cost effectiveness
2. Flexibility and expandability
3. Therapeutic environments
4. Cleanliness and sanitation
5. Accessibility
6. Controlled circulation
7. Aesthetic
8. Security and safety
9. Sustainability
Large-scale healthcare facilities also consume significant resources. To begin with, they
are costly to build; hence significant financial resources are committed to building them,
be it funded by the taxpayer, by private means or both, such as via public-private
partnership (PPP) or private finance initiative (PFI). After they are built, not only are
healthcare buildings significant consumers of energy2 and water, they are also producers
of significant quantities of clinical waste, on a round-the-clock, day-to-day basis. The
ultimate goals of healthcare facilities, however, must surely be in meeting social
objectives and human wellness; not only for patients who seek treatment, but also the
community working in the healthcare built environments (Carr, 2011, 2011; Ray, D,
Betterbricks, Mason, 2006). With the rising global demand for both good quality and
affordable healthcare (World Health Report, 2008), a compelling case must surely be put
forth for all healthcare buildings to be designed and operated in a sustainable manner –
economically, environmentally, and socially (Ibid.).
2 The US Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey conducted in 2003 found that
hospital used an average of 250,000 BTU/ft2 (approximately 788.6kW/m2), second only to food
service buildings (Singer, B. C., 2009).
16
1.2 Scope and Objectives
Through a case study of a hospital project in Singapore that was completed in 2010, this
dissertation examines how the integrated design approach had, in practice, contributed
to social and environmental sustainability in healthcare architecture. This is done by first
studying and understanding the issues related to sustainable healthcare architecture, and
how integrated design can play an important role in realizing sustainable healthcare
architecture, given that it necessitates the involvement of a network of stakeholders with
specialized knowledge. Second, the dissertation shall study the integrated design
approach in theory, so as to identify the key elements relevant for healthcare
architecture. Next, the findings shall be compared with what had taken place in practice
through examining the case study of a recently completed hospital in Singapore, namely
the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH). Based on the comparative analysis and lessons
learnt, this dissertation concludes with recommendations on how the practice of
integrated design may be further researched and improved.
The objectives of this dissertation are hence as follows:
1. Explore some recent developments and understanding of sustainable healthcare
architecture, and its relationship with integrated design.
2. Identify, as far as possible, the essential elements that comprise the integrated
design approach in the context of healthcare architecture, by drawing upon and
making comparison from literature references.
3. Through documentation study of the KTPH project and interviews with its
project team members, understand how the visioning and briefing process;
formation and organization of integrated project team; the integrated design
process and the design iterations of KTPH took place, to critically appraise the
integrated design process in practice.
4. Analyze comprehensively the extent of integrated design process played out in
the KTPH project, the lessons learnt by its team members, and how such lessons
could contribute to future application of integrated design process in practice.
17
1.3 Research Questions
Through these objectives, this research will investigate the benefits associated with the
integrated design process in realizing sustainable healthcare architecture. In so doing,
four main research questions are posed, namely:
1. How do we define sustainable healthcare architecture in the Singapore context?
2. What are the salient elements of the integrated design approach and how are they
relevant for sustainable healthcare architecture?
3. How is integrated design carried out in the practice of healthcare architectural
design?
4. What are the lessons learnt in the integrated design process in the practice of
healthcare architecture?
5. How can the lessons learnt benefit future practice of integrated design in
healthcare architecture?
6. The research methodology includes literature review based on publicly accessible
information, access to document archived within the organizations involved in
the KTPH project, and interview with design/project team members involved in
KTPH project. Materials used in this dissertation are limited to information that
had been permitted for publication by the sources of the information.
1.4 Dissertation Structure
To address these aims, objectives and research questions, the dissertation is structured as
six interrelated chapters.
Chapter 1: Introduction
This introductory chapter presents the background and context of healthcare
architecture; the scope and objectives of the thesis, research questions and a brief
description of each chapter. To initiate the discussion, it presents the challenges
associated with the design of healthcare architecture, as well as recent developments and
opportunities in realizing sustainable healthcare architecture.
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Chapter 2: The Integrated Design Approach
Having established the importance and necessity of sustainable healthcare architecture
in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 focuses on how sustainable architecture may be realized through
the integrated design process. By drawing from various sources, the essential elements of
the integrated design process are discussed, in particular:
1. Who are the key stakeholders and why a multi-disciplinary team is needed;
2. The necessary mindset change required for them to be effective in the integrated
design process;
3. The visioning and objective setting process and the sustainable design brief;
4. The integrated design process including team-based iterative processes.
Chapter 3: Khoo Teck Puat Hospotal - A Case Study
This chapter builds upon the work introduced in previous chapters and as such explores
them within the context of the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH), a purported sustainable
healthcare architecture in Singapore (Guenther and Vittori, 2008, p.p. 172-174),
completed in 2010. As such, Chapter 3 will first provide the background of the KTPH
project, followed by examining how through project visioning, objectives setting, team
formation and organization, the KTPH project had aligned team members’ mindsets,
attitude and commitment with a common purpose and shared values. This is done
through a comprehensive study of the literature and project document, as well as
through interviews with the key project team members involved.
Chapter 4: KTPH’s Integrated Design Process
This chapter continues from the previous chapter with the examination of the KTPH
design process by mapping it against a theoretical model of integrated design process. It
is followed by an examination of the team-based iterative processes through the various
design stages, in the process exploring the contribution from different project team
members, including the client representatives, users, various building professionals, etc;
the integrated design techniques such as small group research and all stakeholders’
19
workshops; integrated design tools such as computer building performance simulation
and green rating tools, as well as the challenges encountered in the collaboration process.
Chapter 5: Conclusion
In this chapter, the outcome of the integrated design process, i.e. KTPH as an example of
sustainable healthcare architecture is presented, hence completing the evaluation of the
relationship between integrated design and its outcome. In so doing, it validates the
relevance and importance of the integrated design approach to healthcare architecture. It
is followed by a discussion of the lessons learnt in the practice of integrated design. By
drawing on the lessons learnt, the chapter concludes by providing some
recommendations on further research areas that will contribute towards improving the
theory and practice of integrated design approach.
1.5 The Key Challenges of Healthcare Architecture in Singapore
In 2009, the Laurence Berkley National Laboratory (LBNL) produced a report entitled
High Performance Healthcare Buildings: A Roadmap to Improved Energy Efficiency
(Singer and Tschudi, 2009). This report highlighted many of the challenges confronting
healthcare facilities. Amongst these challenges, several stood out as having an important
role in the design of healthcare architecture, and have prompted the discussion set in the
Singapore context, as presented in section 1.5.1 to 1.5.2.
1.5.1 Challenges Related to the Provision of Medical Services3
Medical services are often required to operate 24 hours a day, every day of the year. This
leads to high overall energy intensity for hospital architecture. Prescribed operational
needs, life-safety concerns and compliance with codes and standards often demand
building services and equipment to be robust, reliable and with backup. Some of the
issues relevant to Singapore healthcare facilities are summarized in Table 1.1.
3 Singer, B. C., Tschudi, W. F., (2009). High Performance Healthcare Buildings: A Roadmap to
Improved Energy Efficiency. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. pp 4.
20
1.5.2 Challenges Related to Healthcare Organization, Structure and
Culture4
The complex functions in large scale healthcare facilities (Section 1.1) have to be
managed, and its organization and operational structure can likewise be very complex.
The organizational structure and culture of the healthcare organization and/or operator
has a large influence on the design of healthcare architecture. Some of the issues relevant
to Singapore healthcare facilities are summarized in Table 1.2.
4 Singer, B. C., Tschudi, W. F., (2009). High Performance Healthcare Buildings: A Roadmap to
Improved Energy Efficiency, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, p. 8.
Table 1.1 Challenges related to provision of medical services in Singapore
Challenges
1. High Receptacle Loads: To provide good quality medical services, modern medical equipment and
processes are required. Inevitably, energy is required for their operation, resulting in high receptacle
and cooling loads (Singer and Tschudi, 2009). As a reference, BCA-NUS Building Information and
Research Centre rated Singapore office building with total building energy efficiency of
147kWh/year/m2 as ‘excellent’, and 348.35kWh/year/m2 or more as ‘poor’. Using KTPH as a reference,
if it is designed based on code requirement, its annual consumption is estimated to be
532.11kWh/year/m2 (Toh, Y. H., project mechanical engineer for KTPH, file archive), which is 1.5time
more than the office buildings rated as ‘poor’ in energy performance.
2. Space Cooling for Tropical Climate: Due to the warm, humid tropical climate in Singapore, and due
to the long operating hours, space cooling becomes one of the main contributing factors for high
energy consumption in healthcare facilities in Singapore. If thermal comfort can be achieved by low-
energy means, significant savings in terms energy consumption and operating expenses can be
achieved. (Lai-Chuah, 2008)
3. Needs for Infection Control: The need for infection control in hospitals, and hence high ventilation
rate, leads to the need for large mechanical systems and high energy demand. Natural ventilation
reduces energy consumption, but poses a question on thermal comfort and whether infection control is
effective. (Infection control association, Singapore)
4. High Energy Costs: As Singapore imports all her energy needs, any measure to reduce energy
consumption – be it through conservation, equipment efficiency or process innovation, contributes to
national competitiveness, lowered costs, and better environment by mitigating carbon emission and
combating climate change. The introduction of a national green rating system, the BCA Green Mark
Scheme in January 2005, followed by mandatory compliance in 2007, illustrates Singapore’s resolve in
bringing energy consumption in check. (National Energy Agency, Singapore; Building Control
Authority, Singapore)
5. Policy and Cost Control Considerations: For government-funded public hospitals, patients in
different wards either pay medical expenses in full (ward A class), or subsidized between 20%
(maxmimum subsidy in ward B1 class) and 80% (maximum subsidy in ward C class), depending on
their financial means. As all Singaporeans are accessible to enjoy the subsidies, it is therefore essential
that healthcare facilities are designed and operated to provide good quality medical services while
minimizing public expenditure. In this regards, two immediate benefits that sustainable healthcare
architecture may bring is reduced resource consumption and improved wellness for patient and staff.
(Lai-Chuah, 2008; Lim, 2003)
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1.6 Sustainable Healthcare Architecture in Singapore’s Context
Since the introduction of the concept of the ‘triple-bottom-line’ by John Elkington5, the
concept has been widely understood and accepted as essentially “an assessment of social
value and eco-efficiency in addition to the conventional economic/financial balance”
(Szokolay, 2008, p. 322)6. The issues of sustainable healthcare architecture in Singapore’s
context may hence be framed along the economic, social and environmental dimensions,
and this three-dimensional framing is adopted for this dissertation. They are briefly
discussed in Section 1.6.1 to 1.6.3, so as to provide the background as well as to highlight
the opportunities for sustainable healthcare architecture Singapore.
5 The concept of ‘triple bottom line’ was first coined in 1998 by John Elkington in the book
‘Cannibals with Forks: the Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business’. 6 Guenther and Vittori (2008) has put forth the business case for sustainable healthcare the needs
to balance multiple priorities and perspectives, represented by triple-bottom-line viewpoints of:
Strategist (represented by the CFO, who is concern with capital cost, revenue streams,
operational efficiency, etc), Seeker (represented by the CEO, who is concern with market growth,
business opportunities, leadership, etc), and the Citizen (represented by the COO, who is concern
with community health and participation, staff relations/retention/recruitment, civic value, etc)
(p. 107).
Table 1.2 Challenges Related to Healthcare Organization, Structure and Culture
Challenges
1. Regulatory and Operational Requirements: As health care is a life-and-death business, some of the
high-energy applications are needed to meet the requirements of medical care, and will not be
compromised. Its operational procedures are also subjected to strict regulatory requirements (Singer
and Tschudi, 2009).
2. Environmental Stewardship: Singapore healthcare sector has a long history of playing the role of
environmental stewardship. For example, Changi General Hospital has a successful programme of
cultivating gardens and vegetables on its roof garden (Verderber, 2010, pp. 162); Alexandra Hospital
(AH) has embraced the notion of ‘healing gardens’ by cultivating lush landscaping within the hospital
premise to provide respite for patients, staff and public (FuturArc, 2011 ). As the KTPH management
team comprises largely from the AH team, the values to uphold environmental stewardship was
brought over. Despite the high-energy nature of healthcare operation, the KTPH management team
was resolute in setting high environmental performance target for the new KTPH (Guenther and
Vittori, 2008, p.p. 172-174).
3. Organizational Culture: The budget and decision structures of the usually complex healthcare
organization, as well as its culture, will influence the value-decision such as the willingness (or lack of)
to incur higher capital expenditure to achieve efficient or high-performance building. In addition, the
nature of the healthcare industry may create a risk-averse and conservative culture, and a complex
healthcare organizational structure may be besieged by bureaucracy or partisan-interests, resulting in a
lack of consensus in decision-making. It takes strong courage and management will for healthcare
management and administration to deviate from established practices and approaches to seek
innovative solution to conflicting demands. It also requires from them the ability to mobilize and
organize resources to put in place a project committee and sub-committees, empowered to take actions
and make decisions (Singer and Tschudi, 2009).
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1.6.1 Economic Sustainability
Singapore’s healthcare system is ranked by World Health Organization as the best in
Asia and six globally7. She has one of the lowest infant mortality rates but at the same
time also amongst the lowest in total health care expenditure when compared to
advanced economies in Asia (Gauld et al, 2006, pp. 331), if not the World (Lim, 2003,
p.84). This is achieved by a combination of government funding, healthcare insurance
and varying degrees of co-payment by individuals, as a result balancing good quality
healthcare with restraint and responsible expenditure. Within such a healthcare
economic system, the government is heavily involved in governance and administration,
with public hospitals providing 80% of the hospital care. The reverse is true for primary
care, with 80% of the services provided by private clinics (Gauld et al, 2006, p. 331).
In addition, the Singapore government places “a strong emphasis on fitness and health,
evident in workplace-based fitness programmes, and anti-smoking and healthy food
campaigns.” (Ibid., p. 332). Such a wellness philosophy is seen echoed in KTPH’s holistic
model of care, in which emphasis on ‘pre-hospitalization’ and ‘post-hospitalization’
(promoting wellness) stages is supplemented by an efficient and effective
‘hospitalization’ stage (treating illness) (Liat, 2009; See Figure 1.2 and 1.3).
To achieve competitive pricing and affordable healthcare costs for patients, hospital
management and administration have to focus on efficiency and cost control measures,
such as lean and efficient operation and staffing, without compromising on the quality of
medical care and services; this is very much embraced at KTPH.8
7 WHO’s World Health Report in 2000 on health systems. 8 In chapter 6 ‘Efficiency’ of the book Evidence-based Design for Healthcare Facilities, Pille, E. and
Richter, P. wrote about how process improvement e.g. Six Sigma was increasingly employed in
the improvement and planning of healthcare facilities. In the case of KTPH, this is very much the
case, with Six Sigma and the process philosophy of the Toyota Production System harnessed for
process improvement (Design Business Case Study: Alexandra Hospital, 2009).
23
With the assurance of an equitable and sustainable healthcare economic system (Lim,
2003), and no doubt one that will continually to be improved upon to better serve the
evolving society and communities of Singapore9, the next inter-related questions and the
focus of this dissertation, i.e. sustainable healthcare architecture in the Singapore context,
are essentially along the social and environmental dimensions.
9 Corporatization of government hospitals in Singapore to aim at efficient and price-competitive
operation commenced in the mid-80s, and had largely been completed in the 90s. The re-
structuring and clustering of healthcare organizations continued, with the latest restructuring
exercise having taken place in 2008 with the formation of two clusters - the National Healthcare
Group (NHG) and the Singapore Health Services (SingHealth) to provide vertically integrated
health care, aimed at “making public healthcare more accessible to its patients”(MOH Holdings,
2009)
Figure 1.2 “The typical compartmentalized, episodic model of care.”
Source: Liat, T. L. (2009), Planning for a Hassle Free Hospital.
To Guenther and Vittori (2008), the main intended outcome of the integrated design
approach is sustainable healthcare architecture; one that optimizes building site
planning, envelope design, systems design and material selection in a holistic manner,
“reducing initial cost and delivering sustained, improved performance.” (Ibid., p. 129;
Bokalders and Block, 2010), providing positive outcomes to the community and human
wellness, as well as ecologically restorative and/or regenerative. Briefly defined in
Section 1.6.4, the notion of sustainable healthcare architecture in the Singapore context is
worthy to be revisited in Section 2.3.5, after the integrated design approach has been
presented.
Table 2.2 Comparison between Integrated and Conventional Design Processes
Integrated Design Process Conventional Design Process
Establish clear and shared goals and values 3 Lack clear and shared goals and values 4
Front-loaded – time and energy invested early1;
Intensive design process begins early at the concept
stage with charettes, workshops, etc.3
Involves team members only when essential 1;
Activities become more intense towards
documentation stage with design coordination,
resolve conflicts 1
Engages in individual research as well as group
iteration process, e.g. charettes, workshops, etc.1, 2
Linear or siloed process 1, 2, 4; limited group
contribution in design formulation.
Emphasis on ongoing learning and research 1 Preordained sequence of events
Adopt ‘whole system thinking’ 1 or ‘whole-building
approach’; allow for full optimization.1
Focuses on efficient design of individual systems in
isolation; limited to constrained optimization 1
Seeks synergies 1 Diminish opportunity for synergies 1; poor
communications 4
Life cycle costing 1; consider budget as a whole,
allowing higher cost but better design in one system
(e.g. façade) to be offset by savings from a system
(e.g. space cooling or heating).
Considers budget as isolated, independent systems.
Innovate by applying existing technologies in new
ways, or incorporate group- sanctioned new
technologies to solve problems identified.
Avoid new and unproven technologies to avoid risk
of failure or blame by others.
Preparation of two, three or more options in concept
design alternatives, supported by energy
simulations.
Concept design was formulated based on functions
or image; without thorough considerations for
environmental and social sustainability issues.
Decisions involve all the key stakeholders 1 Decisions are made by a few decision makers 1
Process continues through post-occupancy 1 Typically finished when construction is complete 1
References:
1 Busby Perkins+Will and Stantec Consulting, (2007). Roadmap for the Integrated Design Process. p. 8. 2 7Group, Reed, B., (2009). The Integrative Design Guide to Green Building: Redefining the Practice of Sustainability. p. 9. 3 Yudelson, J., (2009). Green Building through Integrated Design. p. 46. 4 ANSI MTS 1.0 WSIP Guide, (2007). Whole System Integrated Process Guide. p. 3-4.
39
2.2.5 Learning Organization
Guenther and Vittori (2008) further suggested that healthcare organizations should
indeed strive to be learning organizations, imbue with a culture that values continual
learning and improvement, and engages all its members in doing so. By engaging the
integrated design process, the healthcare organization may endeavour to embody it’s
project vision and goals into the architectural design (ibid., p. 130), achieving synergy
and integration between built environment and operations.
Having established the benefits of the integrated design approach to achieving
sustainable healthcare architecture, the next section discusses the essential elements of
the integrated design approach.
2.3 Essential Elements of the Integrated Design Approach for
Healthcare Architecture
This section expands on the integrated design approach for healthcare architecture by
examining the following:
1. The multi-disciplinary project team and the expertise they need to bring to bear
on the project (Section 2.3.1);
2. Mindset change that is required among the project team members in order to be
effective in achieving integrated design (Section 2.3.2);
3. The integrated design process: What the project team members need to do right
(Section 2.3.3);
4. Tools and techniques: What are the tools and techniques that support integrated
design? (Section 2.3.4);
5. The integrated design product: What are the expected outcomes of integrated
design? (Section 2.3.5).
40
2.3.1 The Multi-Disciplinary Project Team
The integrated design approach advocates at bringing together, at an early stage, all key
stakeholders, e.g. owner, management, building designers (e.g. architects, civil &
structural engineers, mechanical and electrical engineers, landscape designers, etc)
At this stage, the alignment of values was confined to mainly the medical professionals,
with the assistance of Dr Lee and his team. The value alignment with the building
professionals has not yet been carried, because they are yet to be appointed. As a public
commission funded by government, it was necessary for KTPH’s project consultancy to
be procured through public tender. In an interview with Donald Wai, a key member of
the KTPH HPT, he said that it was decided very early on that an integrated design team
was needed for the KTPH project. This decision was in part informed by their previous
hospital planning experience in an attempt to relocate the Alexandra Hospital operation
to another site in Jurong, and in part to meet the very tight project schedule to complete
KTPH. The requirements for the formation of an integrated design team and the
provision of the integrated design proposal were hence specified in the design
competition. A 2-stage design competition was held, based on the quality-fee method
(QFM; BCA22), in which shortlisted design consortium after Stage 1 proceed to submit
design and fee proposals in Stage 2. In the Stage 2 award evaluation, both the quality of
the design proposal and the total consultancy fee were taken into account, based on a
predetermined weightage between quality and fee.
After the conclusion of the design completion, KTPH selected the winning design
submitted by the CPG-led consortium, and appointment the design consortium in May
2006. A visioning session was soon organized, to align the shared visions and to set the
objectives for the whole project team. The KTPH visioning and objective setting process
thus validated the IDP’s emphasis on aligning values and mindset. At this stage, the
KTPH visioning and objective setting process as advocated in the IDP had been carried
out in manner that suited Singapore and AH/KTPH.
The formation and organization of the multi-disciplinary building consultant team, and
its working relationship with the KTPH HPC and user group is presented in the next
section.
22 “QFM Framework”, BCA Website. Available at: <www.bca.gov.sg/PanelsConsultants/others/
QFM_Framework.pdf>
74
Table 3.4 Framing the sustainability focuses in KTPH’s brief for design competition (AH,
2005), with sustainability attributes added by author.
S/No. KTPH’s brief for design competition Eco Soc Env
1. A hassle free hospital:
a. Patients shall be at the centre of the focus, with technology fully exploited for
the benefit and convenience of the patients.
b. It will be well-linked, and patient transfer will be seamless.
2. Adopt a ‘Tricycle Model’: The three thrusts of patient care, teaching &
sharing, and learning & research will mutually support one another.
3. A hospital for the future:
a. It is to be visually pleasing that sustains with time.
b. Ensures ease and low cost of maintainability.
4. Design scalability:
a. Designed for flexibility and adaptability.
b. ‘Breathability’ in master planning.
c. Modular design for ease of conversion.
d. Ability for lock-down of the hospital by zone during emergencies.
5. Patient centric:
a. Hassle-free processes designed for patients’ convenience.
b. Engaging patients and their families as partners.
c. Safety of patients is of paramount importance.
d. Intuitive, ease of moment for patients and visitors.
e. Minimal movement required for patients.
f. Clustering of services and facilities.
6. Technology as an Enabler: Better, faster, cheaper and safer healthcare
through digitisation, wireless technology, automation and robotics.
7. Energy Efficient:
a. 50% More energy efficient than existing hospitals.
b. Designed to with the tropical climate in mind.
c. Harness natural ventilation.
d. Allow for ample overhangs.
e. Designed for high ceilings.
f. Make use of solar and wind power.
g. To achieve Green Mark Platinum Award.
8. High Touch:
a. To have a warm, ‘cuddling’ feel.
b. Environment to be calming and cheerful.
c. Sensitive to the different age group of patient population, catering both to
the vibrant young and the mature aged.
9. Healing Environment:
a. Hospital within a garden, garden within a hospital.
b. Environment to have tranquil, restful, and healing qualities.
c. Users are in touch with the sight, scent and sound of nature.
d. Surrounding patients with nature, e.g. through roof garden, hanging gardens
at verandahs.
e. Replacement ratio of 0.7 or more for greenery.
Eco = Economic Sustainability
Soc = Social/Human Wellness Sustainability
Env = Environmental/Ecological Sustainability
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3.4 KTPH Team Formation and Organization
Based on the individual and focused group discussions conducted with the project team
members, the organization chart of the original KTPH team organization was reflected in
a hierarchical manner similar to Figure 2.5. This is due to the fact that in the building
industry that is the commonly accepted way organizational charts are drawn. When
presented with alternative diagramme of integrated design team organization (Figure
2.6), all project team members interviewed agreed that Figure 2.6 indeed better reflects
the KTPH team organization. Based on the findings of the focused group discussions, a
KTPH integrated design team organization chart (Figure 3.5) is prepared to reflect the
manner in which KTPH project team was organized. In Figure 3.5, building professionals
are shown in green, and communication among them was facilitated by the CPG
architects. The medical professionals are shown in blue, and communication among
them was facilitated by the HPT. The Core Project Team (CPT) comprises Architect,
prime consultant team, KTPH HPT, project manager and often includes landscape
architect and green consultant.23
23 Document from CPG file archive and information from interview sessions with Ong, Lim, Toh,
and Bontigao between Dec 2011 and Jan 2012.
Figure 3.5 KTPH’s integrated design team organization. By author, adapted from IDP Roadmap (2007).
ArchitectCPG
Cost Consultant/Quantity Surveyor
CPG
Interior DesignerBent Severin
Main ContractorHyundai
Green Mark Authority
BCA
Regulatory Authorities
Other government
agencies, planners, etc
Hospital PlannerRMJM Hillier
Façade Consultant
Aurecon
Landscape ArchitectPeridian
Green Consultant
TBPT
IDP Facilitator?
OperatorKTPH HPT
Project ManagerPMLink
Prime Consultant Team: Mechanical, Electrical,
Structural, Civil Engineers
CPG
User Work Groups/Departments
KTPH User Reps
ClientMinistry of Health
Representative
KTPH ManagementKTPH HPC
Wayfinding/Signage
Space Syntax/Design objectives
Core Project Team
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Through the focused group discussions, it was revealed that while the project team
members intended to undertake design and the project in an integrated manner, they
were not aware and hence did not make use of any specific integrated design process
methodologies, such as those identified in Chapter 2.0. They were therefore very much
self-reliant, basing on past experience, as well as constantly making adjustment to the
group dynamics that was evolving and developing through working on the KTPH
project. The group dynamics began to mature as the project develops, and was stabilize
after about six months since the formal appointment of the consultants in May 2006. As
the appointment of the consultants did not make IDP a prescribed requirement, the fee
structure is similar to the traditional design approach. In other words, the fee structure
did not anticipate the rigour of the IDP. Hence throughout the project, the project team
had to adapt to the IDP practice while operating under the financial pressure of a
conventional fee structure similar to typical large scale projects in Singapore.24
The roles of the key members of the KTPH Integrated design team are discussed in 3.4.1
to 3.4.6.
3.4.1 The role of IDP Facilitator
One key difference between the KTPH integrated design team and Roadmap (2007) is
the lack of a formerly appointed champion or facilitator. While KTPH’s CEO Mr Liak
Teng Lit was the defacto leader in championing sustainability issues as outlined in
Section 3.3.2, and availed himself in many of the workshops or small group meetings, he
could not be considered as an IDP champion. Understandably so, as first, a specific IDP
methodology was not consciously adopted; second, it was never a practice in Singapore
for such a role. The prevailing practice was for the architect to act as the lead consultant
to co-ordinate the efforts of the consultant team, or for the large and complex project, for
a project manager to be appointed to act on behalf of the client to oversee the project
matters. For KTPH, the project team members recounted that the integrated design
24 Document from CPG file archive and information from interview sessions with Ong, Lim, Toh,
and Bontigao between Dec 2011 and Jan 2012.
77
efforts do require facilitation, and through group consent that the facilitation
responsibilities were taken up and shared among the CPG architectural team, the KTPH
HPT, and the PM Link project management team. The architectural team members
focused on facilitation among the building professionals. The HPT focused on liasison
and coordination with the many user work groups and hospital departments. The
project manager team focused on work programming, people management and
scheduling which is typical of what project managers do in Singapore. The roles of the
project team members that played key roles to the integrated design process are
presented below.25
3.4.2 The role of the Architect + IDP Facilitator for Building Design
For KTPH, a 10-member architectural team was deployed by CPG, including the project
director Mr Lee Soo Khoong, architects Lim Lip Chuan, Jerry Ong and Pauline Tan who
were interviewed in focused group discussions for this dissertation. They worked in
collaboration with healthcare architectural consultant RMJM Hillier, and are supported
by medical planner Medical Planning Research International and other architectural
support staffs. Hence, team-based design was an important attribute in the architectural
design process.26
As the lead consultant, the CPG architectural team leads the building professionals in
engaging the HPT and the user representatives, as well as the building authorities. They
put in lot of efforts to facilitate inputs and requirements from different parties to be
tabled early, so as to seek opportunity for more holistic solutions. They also have to be
open to new ideas, possess good listening skills, and the willingness to learn and
develop an understanding of healthcare operation, needs and requirements of healthcare
staff, as well as the needs and requirements of patients, families and public visitors.
25 See Appendix IV for list of personnel. 26 Ibid.
78
Some of the difficulties encountered by CPG architects were the initial communication
problems with non-building professionals, e.g. even when both parties were reading the
same drawings, the interpretation and spatial understanding of clinicians and the
architect may be different. As a result:
1. Extra time spent and additional efforts were hence needed in order to ensure that
a common understanding was attained.
2. Non-building professionals did not have a full understanding of the constraints
and complexities in building design and contract implementation. Certain design
ideas that they had preferred may be constraint by other requirements, and
usually alternative, work-around solutions proposed by the building
professionals are required. Intense and pro-longed user group meetings
involving co-learning were hence necessary. On the other hand, the intense
meetings had also built trust and understanding among building and medical
professionals.
3.4.3 The role of the Hospital Planning Team + IDP Facilitator for User
Groups
The 9-member hospital planning team (HPT)27 is the bridge that straddles between the
building design/project team and the hospital management represented by the Hospital
Planning Committee (HPC) and user committees. Led by the Chief Operating Officer
Chew Kwee Tiang 28 and deputized by Donald Wai, the HPT comprises clinicians,
managers and administrators (AH org chart dated 09.01.2009) who would liaise with
various departments and work groups.
27 The HPT initially comprises Director, Hospital Planning Chew K. T., Deputy Director Donald
Wai who oversee day-to-day hospital planning issues with focus on contract administration and
facilities management, Koh Kim Luan, Sim Siew Ngoh and Esther Yap in the early stages. Cynthia
Ong, Lye Siew Lin, Poh Puay Yong joined the project and HPT in later stages. All were involved
in specific departments based on their background. They help to bridge between the users and
consultants, were involved in NSC tenders (ID, fitment, loose furniture tenders etc) and site
coordination (Based on interview with CPG Architect Jerry Ong in Jan 2012 and AH org chart
dated 09.01.2009). 28 The role was performed by Grace Chiang up to the masterplanning stage, but later taken over
by Chew after that and through to completion and building operation.
79
The HPT organized a few types of meetings/workshops:
1. The monthly HPC meetings, in which inter-departmental issues, policy issues
and management issues were raised for decision making. Annotated agenda for
each HPC meeting was submitted to the participants, and key decisions were
made timely to facilitate the design process. In addition, the latest trends in
medical process, procedures and (operation) were also presented in the meetings,
and hard decisions were made decisively to incorporate some proposals into the
final design and facilities.
2. A one-week workshop was conducted once every month (User group design
workshop) during the schematic and design development stages. Altogether,
approximately fifteen such design workshops were conducted.
3. Working sessions were conducted in between the workshops involving specific
user representatives from different departments and building professionals to
follow up on issues identified in the workshops. In these working sessions,
architect, the prime consultant team (civil & structural engineer, mechanical
engineer, electrical engineer) were always represented, and selected specialist
consultant e.g. green consultant, landscape consultant, interior designer and
signage consultant were frequently present, particularly when their inputs were
required.
3.4.4 The role of the Prime Consultant Team
The Civil & Structural Engineers, Mechanical Engineers, Electrical Engineers were from
the same company as the architect, i.e. CPG Consultants Pte Ltd. This helped to reduce
potential hurdles that may impede close collaboration between the disciplines that are
from different companies, e.g. sharing of information. By being co-located in the same
building, the physical proximity between the various disciplines had also facilitated the
face-to-face interaction and design collaboration. Despite that, the focused group
discussions had also revealed that the habits developed from the entrenched linear and
fragmentary industry practices was hurdles that require persistent efforts to overcome.
80
3.4.5 The role of the Green Consultant
The CPG team was supported by its in-house green studio, CPGreen, headed by Dr
Nirmal Krishnani29 at that time during the early research stage of the design competition.
The Green Consultant role was taken up by Total Building Performance Team (TBPT)
during the design competition. They are familiar with the then new Green Mark
requirements, and provided the design team with support on climate analysis, energy
modeling, life cycle cost estimation, computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation, and
wind tunnel test. By utilizing these tools, TBPT worked with CPG architect and engineer
in achieving energy efficiency through integrating:
1. The bioclimatic responds of the building envelope, reducing the cooling load,
taking in considerations of view, day light and aesthetics;
2. Optimized air-conditioning and mechanical ventilation (ACMV) system, e.g. heat
recovery system, CO2 sensor, and other energy-efficient systems e.g. lighting,
transportation, etc.
Dr Lee Siew Eang who headed the TBPT recounted30 that initially, the engineers were not
comfortable providing design information to the TBPT. The trust gradually built up after
a few months, with TBPT making it a point to always return to the engineers to discuss
their findings, before they would jointly present the outcomes or proposals to the
HPT/user groups.
3.4.6 The role of User Groups
Prior and throughout the project, some twenty-plus user groups were formed e.g.
clinicians from various departments, hospital support, administration and facilities
management groups (Table 3.5). Generally, these user groups would first conduct their
own work flow studies, benchmarking practices from the best-in-class, propose system
29 Interview session with Dr Nirmal Krishnani held in December 2011. Dr Nirmal is currently
Senior Lecturer at National University of Singapore, as well as Chief Editor of Future Arc journal. 30 Interview session held in January 2012.
81
improvements, and translate these into design and spatial requirements for discussion
with the architect and the prime consultant team. These working sessions are facilitated
by the HPT and the PM Link project managers.
3.4.7 The role of the Contractor
The main contract was procured using the conventional design-bid-build method, and
hence the main contractor M/s Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co Ltd were on
board only after the award of the main tender, and was not able to participate in the
integrated design process. The project team experienced some coordination issues
during construction stage, which affirms the view that there is a disconnect between
design and construction professionals (7group and Reed, 2009, p. 10; Section 2.1).
3.5 Discussion: KTPH’s Visioning, Objective Setting and Team
Formation
Even without relying on any structured integrated design methodology or guide,
through document review and focused group discussion, it was found that the KTPH
project had by and large put in place the following essential elements of the integrated
design process:
Table 3.5 AH/KTPH user work groups / departments (AH org chart dated 09.01.2009)
Call Centres MOT Project Development
CD HPVF Offices Construction Progress & Site Mgt
Childcare Centre OSMH Technical
Day Surgery Pharmacy Infrastructure & IT
DEM PSC/IPC Archt & Struct. Design Review
Delivery Suites & NICU Radiotherapy Community & Grassroot Relation
DI Renal Unit AH Facilities & Migration Plan
Endoscopy SOCs Liason with authorities & MOH
ICUs (Surgery & Medical) Staff Facilities Fire Command Centre
Laboratories Toilets Yishun Pond
Lobby & Retail Wards (Private, subsidized, iso)
82
1. Formation of multi-disciplinary, integrated project team that comprises not only
building professionals, project manager, green design consultant, and other
building specialists, but also medical professionals, organized as user groups;
2. Robust visioning and objective setting processes were carried out, through the
application of total building performance framework, which was customized to
suit Singapore’s context.
With the integrated design team, the visions and objectives in place, it remains to be seen
how the integrated design process and iterations were played out. This is examined in
the next chapter.
83
Chapter 4.0: KTPH’s Integrated
Design Process
“This requires rethinking principles and
procedures at a higher level of generality. It
would mean changing routines and old ways
of doing things. It would require a
willingness to accept the risks that
accompany change.”
David Orr
“Part of the charrette process lies in knowing
that a good idea can come from anyplace.
You have to be willing to accept it. It dosen’t
matter where the idea comes from.”
Dan Heinfeld
84
Chapter 4.0 KTPH’s Integrated Design Process
This chapter examines KTPH’s design process. The objective is to compare and contrast
the integrated design process in theory and in practice. Three aspects are focused on:
1. The alternation between research/analysis and workshop;
2. The iteration process in each stage, namely ‘prelim’ (PD), ‘schematic design’ (SD),
and ‘design development’ (DD);
3. Some examples of the multi-disciplinary collaboration in the iteration process, the
role that the different professionals or experts played, and the contributions they
made.
The methodology includes, first, by mapping out the KTPH’s design process, focusing
on the alternating patterns of research/analysis and workshops. It is then compared with
the IDP theoretical model, followed by a discussion. Next, examination of the iteration
processes are conducted through the various stages: design competition stage, schematic
design stage and design development stage. During the examination, the tools and
techniques employed to support integrated design decisions are highlighted. Particular
focus is drawn on the two salient features of KTPH: the biophilic site layout and massing
design that was developed in the early design stages, and the bioclimatic and naturally
ventilated subsidized ward design that was developed in the later design stages. The
examination is done through a comprehensive study of the literature and project
document available, as well as through focus group discussions with the key project
team members involved (Table 3.1).
4.1 The Process Map
Based on the focused group discussions, the integrated design process of KTPH is
mapped out in Figure 4.1. For ease of comparison, the IDP theoretical model in Figure
2.8 is reproduced in Figure 4.2. The alternating patterns of workshops and
research/analysis activities are quite similar between the KTPH process and the IDP
theoretical model, but the two starts to deviate during the schematic design stage. The
85
main activities that took place during the various stages in the process map are
summarized in Table 4.1.
4.1.1 DC: Design Competition (Prelim)
The initial research/analysis stage ‘R1’ in the theoretical IDP model (Figure 4.2) is
undertaken as the design competition stage ‘DC’ in the KTPH (Figure 4.1). The design
proposal put forward by the design team (See Figure 4.3) is indeed an attempt to address
the design requirements and objectives (problems/constraints) through solution finding
(Lawson, 2005). As the design competition was conducted in two stages, feedback given
to the design team after the first presentations was given due considerations and an
improved design was put forth in the final submission. At this stage, the design concept
revolving around the notion of ‘hospital in a garden, garden in a hospital’ that
Figure 4.1 Integrated design process in KTPH. Adapted from WSIP (2007).
Figure 4.2 The Theoretical model of integrative design process. Adapted from WSIP (2007).
Decision Workshops
WorkshopsKTPH Integrated Design Process
CDDC MP SD DD1
Prelim Masterplan SD DD CD T&A
DD2
W2W1
S1 VE1 VE2 S2
R2R1 R3 R4
W1 W2 W3 W4 W5 W6 W7
86
responded to the competition design brief was established. The design integrated inputs
and basic considerations from various consultants, including (CPG’s file archive):
1. Architectural and medical planning
2. Interior design
3. Wayfinding
4. Mechanical and electrical engineering design
5. Civil and structural engineering design
6. Transportation and traffic studies
7. Costing and budget
8. Total building design and green design
9. Landscape design
10. Security design
11. Acoustic design
The design led to the successful award of the design competition and the formal
appointment of the consultant team. KTPH HPT’s Wai recalled that one of the reasons
was the support of the design concept by objective data and analysis. For example,
during a design competition briefing, TBPT demonstrated by way of meteorological data
and computer simulation that by opening the courtyard towards the Yishun Pond, wind
is funneled through the courtyard to improve thermal comfort (Figure 4.12).
Figure 4.3 Integrated design team organization at the design competition stage. Adapted from
IDP Roadmap (2007).
Interior DesignerBent Severin
Landscape ArchitectPeridian
Green ConsultantTBPT/CPG
Prime Consultant Team: Mechanical, Electrical,
Civil, Structural Engineers, Quantity Surveyor
CPG
ArchitectCPG
Hospital PlannerRMJM Hillier
WayfindingSpace Syntax
87
4.1.2 W1: Visioning Workshop
In Section 3.2.2, it was presented that a visioning workshop was conducted soon after the
formal appointment of consultants. This is represented as ‘W1’ in Figure 4.1. During the
1-day visioning workshop, the KTPH key representatives and the building professionals
participated in a project chartering process, in which the project visions and objectives
were thought through, debated, and chartered with all participants committing to it by
signing off the charter. Architect Ong recalled, “It was emphasized to us that we are
KTPH’s ‘partners’ in realizing the hospital’s vision.”31
At this point, the project team had expanded to include both building professionals and
healthcare professionals in the Core Project Team, with other supporting building and
healthcare experts, as presented in Figure 3.5.
4.1.3 W2: Masterplanning Workshop
The visioning workshop (W1) was closely followed by a masterplanning workshop
conducted over four days, in which the programmatic requirements, the site planning,
the massing iterations were conducted through the use of sketches, simplified digital
massing studies, powerpoint slide presentations and verbal discussions. Drastic changes
were made to the programmatic arrangement, so as to better accpmmodate KTPH’s
‘integrated care’ operation philosophy.32
4.1.4 MP: Schematic Design Research/Analysis/Design Process
After the masterplanning workshop, the building professionals proceeded with the
design revision and iteration process. At this stage, preliminary design studies were
conducted to validate that the objectives set out in the visioning workshop were
achievable. This stage may be considered as part of the schematic design (R2) of the
theoretical IDP model. The stage was completed with the signing off of the revised
31 Interview session held in Dec 2011. 32 Document from CPG file archive and information from interview sessions with Ong, Lim, Toh,
and Bontigao between Dec 2011 and Jan 2012.
88
masterplan (S1), which took place after a presentation to HPC was made and
endorsement by HPC was obtained. The signing off was more for the purpose of
recognizing work done and billing for the building professionals. In terms of design
activities, the transition from masterplan to schematic design was an on-going process,
fuzzy process.33
4.1.5 SD: Schematic Design
Issues that required a more detailed level of resolution was brought into the schematic
design (SD) stage. During this stage, the block massing, spatial organization of
departments in relation to each other, was decided. More user groups (See Section 3.4.6)
were brought in to interact with the Core Project Team (CPT; See Section 3.4). The CPT
was usually represented by the HPT, architect, mechanical engineer, electrical engineer,
with other professionals e.g. landscape and interior designers joining in as and when
required. The user groups were coordinated and facilitated by the HPT and project
manager team. The user group meetings were typically a process of co-learning, where
the users would take the building professional through their specific operational
requirements, while the building professionals would explore design options while
explaining the constraints and considerations related to building design and
construction. As recounted by Architect Ong34, during this process, KTPH’s CEO Liak
Teng Lit would often attends the user group meetings for key decisions to be made,
especially pertaining to landscape and environmental sustainability issues, which are
very much his personal interests.35
4.1.6 VE1: Value Engineering Workshop
A VE workshop ‘VE1’ was conducted at the end of the schematic design (SD) stage. An
external facilitator was brought in by KTPH to facilitate the VE process. The different
33 Document from CPG file archive and information from interview sessions with Ong, Lim, Toh,
and Bontigao between Dec 2011 and Jan 2012. 34 Interview session held in Jan 2012. 35 Document from CPG file archive and information from interview sessions with Ong, Lim, Toh,
and Bontigao between Dec 2011 and Jan 2012.
89
options of the main building elements, e.g. link bridges, M&E design strategies, medical
service strategies, etc were presented, their pros and cons discussed, and at the end of
the VE workshop, decisions were made regarding which major design options were to
be selected.36
4.1.7 DD1 & DD2: Design Development
During the design development (DD) stage, there were two sub-stages. In DD1, internal
layouts of the individual departments were developed with the users. It was followed by
DD2, where the detailed room requirements were agreed, e.g. provision and locations of
equipment and services. Throughout the DD, the building professionals were essentially
developing the design into more specific systems and components, supported with
design tools such as calculations, simulations and metrics. Throughout this process, the
HPT and project manager would conduct interim reviews to check that the design
objectives were being met. In fact, as the design was being developed, many of the
objectives were also refined or updated. For example, as recounted by mechanical
engineer Toh Yong Hwa37, one of the KTPH’s objectives was ‘50% more energy efficient
than existing hospitals’. This was initially based on an assumption that 70% of the floor
areas were to be naturally ventilated, and the remaining 30% to be air-conditioned. As
the design developed, it was realized that even after optimization, 54% of the floor areas
were needed to be air-conditioned to meet operational requirements, and as a result the
energy saving target was agreed to be revised to 35%.38 The design development was
signed off (‘S2’ in Figure 4.1) for the preparation of the tender bid documentation. Again,
this was more meaningful for the recognition of work done and billing; the actual design
refinement continued well into the documentation phase.39
36 Document from CPG file archive and information from interview sessions with Ong, Lim, Toh,
and Bontigao between Dec 2011 and Jan 2012. 37 Interview session held in January 2012. 38 This was nonetheless a higher target than the minimum energy saving criteria of 30% for Green
Mark Platinum. 39 Document from CPG file archive and information from interview sessions with Ong, Lim, Toh,
and Bontigao between Dec 2011 and Jan 2012.
90
4.1.8 VE2: Value Engineering Workshop
A second VE workshop (VE2) was conducted in between DD1 and DD2, primarily to
decide on the façade screen design options generated. Again, an external facilitator was
appointed to facilitate the VE process. The different façade screening options were
presented and evaluated, and at the end of the VE workshop, decision regarding which
option to adopt was made. This is presented in Section 4.2.2.40
4.1.9 The Practice of Workshop/Design Charrette
From the above process map, it is observed that workshops were held frequently
throughout the project duration. CPG Architect Lim41 commented that hospital planner
RMJM-Hillier were familiar with the group design technique of ‘design charrettes’42
(Todd, 2009), which they frequently employed in their projects. For KTPH, workshops
were practice in part to overcome the constraints of working with RMJM-Hillier as a
foreign consultant, as the physical distance of their home office in the United States
means that it is impractical to hold weekly or bi-weekly meetings, a common practice in
Singapore. Instead, a focused one-week workshop where all key stakeholders are present
to be held on a monthly basis was more effective, and it had become an established
practice with the Singapore-based project team as well, even after RMJM-Hillier had
completed their main scope of works by DD1 stage and stopped participating on a
regular basis. KTPH’s Wai recounted that in between the main workshops involving key
stakeholders, many user group meetings to resolve design issues were needed. As many
of the users are clinicians and managers who had to perform duties during official hours,
it was necessary to conduct user group meetings with building professionals through
intensive mini-workshops, very often between 5pm and 10pm after working hours. Such
intense sessions were prevalent in the masterplanning and schematic design stages, but
40 Ibid. 41 Interview session held in January 2012. 42 Todd (2009) defined design charrettes in Whole Building Design Guide website as “a charrette
is defined as an intensive workshop in which various stakeholders and experts are brought
together to address a particular design issue, from a single building to an entire campus,
installation, or park.”
91
the intensity began to reduce in design development stage, as the design was
progressively resolved.43
4.1.10 Hospital Planning Committee Meetings that were held monthly
Not shown in the process map are the monthly HPC meetings, where the CEO, COO,
departmental heads, clinicians, nursing leaders and operation managers were
represented, as well as representative from Ministry of Health, which finances the
project. The interim solutions agreed between the user groups and the building
professionals in the workshops were presented in HPC meetings for endorsement. Issues
that could not be resolved at the workshops (e.g. inter-departmental conflicts, etc) or
opportunities for inter-departmental synergies (e.g. sharing of common resources, etc)
are identified in annotated agenda to be iterated in the HPC meetings for decision. On
the other hand, issues surfaced during the HPC meetings were also assigned to specific
user group working sessions for detailed study and/or resolution. While VE exercises
were not conducted as an on-going process as advocated in the theoretical model of IDP,
budget review was constantly conducted in the HPC meeting agenda.
While KTPH’s design process map somewhat deviated from the theoretical model of the
IDP, it has so far validated such recommendations (WSIP, 2007, see Table 2.4) as:
1. Fully engage client in the design decision process (WSIP, 2007).
2. Assemble the right team (WSIP, 2007), in the case of KTPH, this includes both
building professionals and medical professionals.
3. Key attributes in team formation is ‘teachable attitude’; members come on board
not as experts but co-learners (WSIP, 2007).
4. Align team around basic aspirations, a core purpose (a hassle-free hospital), and
core values (WSIP, 2007).
43 Document from CPG file archive and information from interview sessions with Ong, Lim, Toh,
and Bontigao between Dec 2011 and Jan 2012.
92
5. Sustainable design brief: The core values were translated into a set of actionable
objectives based on the total building performance framework that demonstrated
sustainability considerations along the triple-bottom line (See Table 3.2).
The next section of this dissertation is to examine some examples of the iterative process
and outcomes. In the examination, the tools and techniques employed to support the
integrated design efforts are highlighted.
4.2 The Iterative Process
In Section 2.3.3.4, the model of the iterative process (Figure 2.9) proposed in ‘Strategies
for integrative building design’ by van der Aa, Heiselberg and Perino (2011) was
discussed. This model, hereby known as the iterative process model (IPM) is used in this
part of the dissertation to examine selected aspects of the iterative process in the KTPH
project (Figure 4.4).
Figure 4.4 KTPH iterative process basing on the model in ‘Strategies for integrative building
design (van der Aa, Heiselberg and Perino, 2011).
Text in red added for referencing with KTPH process map (Figure 4.1).
SDD
D1
DD
2
Research/Analysis Workshops/Decisions
93
4.2.1 Schematic Design (SD) Stage
During the schematic design stage (known as concept design phase in IPM), broad
strategies were considered, including local climate (Ibid.), programmatic zoning,
circulation strategy, green design strategy, site response, etc. A diagramme represented
this part of the iterative process is shown in Figure 4.5 (Ibid., p. 9). In the case of KTPH,
this took place in the masterplan and schematic design stages (‘MP’ and ‘SD’ in Figure
4.1), soon after the masterplanning workshop.
Based on Architect Lim’s reflection44, he learnt from the masterplan workshop that the
main reasons for KTPH’s selection of the CPG-Hillier scheme as winning entry for
further development were:
1. The scheme revolving around a garden as the ‘heart’ of the scheme. This opens
up opportunities for the development of the notion of ‘healing garden’, a practice
that the KTPH management team had established since year 2000 in their
previous premise, Alexandra Hospital. The KTPH HPC’s firm belief and
recurring emphasis of integrating natural environment into the healthcare
44 Interview session held in January 2012.
Figure 4.5 Iterative process model during the schematic design phase. Adapted from van der
Aa, Heiselberg and Perino (2011). Red annotation added for referencing with KTPH process
map (Figure 4.1).
SD VE1
Schematic Design
(Concept Design)
94
environment to harness its therapeutic properties, not only for patients, but also
for patients’ families, visitors, and hospital staff had since the masterplanning
workshop became ingrained into the building professionals’ mindset. This belief
is supported by the biophilia hypothesis (Wilson, 1984; Kellert et al, 1993) and
Built environment that supports integrated healthcare and social systems
Social Sustainability
Table 5.3 Integrated design attributes of KTPH
S/No. Attributes Reference
1 A building typology exhibiting complexity in functions. Section 1.1, 3.4.6
2 A project that has many stakeholders, spanning client (MOH), hospital
management (AH/KTPH), user groups, building consultants, contractors,
building authorities, agencies overseeing the community (PUB, HDB, NParks).
Section 3.3, 3.4
3 Early recognition and establishment of a multi-disciplinary team, comprising a
core project team supported by diverse expertise and user groups. Section 3.4
4 A triple-bottom-line approach, balancing economic and building performance,
social and human wellness, and environmental and ecological stewardship. Section 3.3
5 A robust visioning and objective setting process. Section 3.3
6 Some degree of success in mindset change. Section 4.3
7 A team-base, collaborative, integrated design process alternating
individual/small group research/design iterations and all stakeholders’
workshops, with an emphasis on ‘partnership’ and team work.
Section 4.1 to 4.3
8 Delivered a sustainable healthcare architecture as an integrated design
outcome. Section 5.1
124
5.2 Lessons Learnt on the Practice of Integrated Design from the
KTPH Case Study
Based on the documentation study and interviews from the project team members, the
lessons learnt are as follows:
1. Briefing is a continuous process that intertwines with the design process.
2. Entrenched practice among building professionals.
3. Mindset change was not homogeneous among team members.
4. Lack of integrated design process toolkit.
5. Fragmentary design and documentation platform.
6. Issues related to contractor appointed via conventional approach.
5.2.1 The KTPH Briefing Process
The KTPH case study demonstrated that a close collaboration between the medical
professionals and building professionals had developed in the project. The design
process from masterplan, through schematic design, design development phases and
extended into contruction phase may be thought about as a long, collective dialogue,
allowing the stated objectives at the start of the project to be played out against other
constraints that are not apparent in the initial brief. These includes building authorities’
requirements, budget, specific operational requirements that are only becoming visible
as building designers present the proposed internal layout, etc. As Lawson proposes,
Briefing is now generally regarded as a continuous process rather than one
which takes place exclusively at the start of the project.” (Lawson, 2004. p. 13)
The eventual developed brief listed more than 440 specific requirements, categorized
under 15 categories, much more than the 31 objectives under 9 categories at objective
setting stage (Section 3.3; CPG file document)49.
49 Updated brief compliance checklist dated Mar 2007.
125
This highlights one of the key challenges in the design of healthcare architecture:
complexity. It also illustrates that design requirements, problems or constraints are
extremely difficult to be comprehensively stated, especially at the start of the project.
Very often, they are developed and defined as the possible solutions are being tossed
about (Lawson, 2005, p. 120). Hence, KTPH demonstrated that for large scale and
complex project, there is a need for close collaboration with stakeholders, experts from
different disciplines, and key decision makers in the iterative process, because problems
often only emerged after tentative solutions are proposed (See Appendix II on team-
based design iteration).
5.2.2 Entrenched Practice among Building Professionals
Aside from the close collaboration between the medical and building professionals, the
project team members had highlighted in the focus group discussions that they
experienced a tendency among some building professionals to lapse into the
conventional behavior of linear, parallel processes. As a result, there are instances where
more straight forward design issues that building professionals could resolve among
themselves are less satisfactorily done, when far more complicated issues that require co-
learning between the healthcare and building professionals were resolve far more
satisfactorily. One likely explanation is that building professionals made assumptions
based on past experience and cut back on coordination with each other as they succumb
to time pressure; especially after committing huge amount of time and resources in the
co-learning process with the medical professionals.
This behavior tendency had occasionally crept into dealings with the medical
professionals as well. KTPH’s Wai said that one short coming of the project team
members becoming very familiar and friendly with the KTPH staff, especially towards
the later phases of the project, is the tendency for individual building professionals to
seek consent from end users to resolve localized problems quickly, without seeking the
consent of the HPT or other inter-related departments. In other words, the problems may
not have been resolved systematically or holistically. This reveals that linear-thinking,
being an entrenched mode of thinking, is not easily replaced by system-thinking.
126
5.2.3 Issues Related to Mindset Change
Gathering from the interviews, it suggests that the mindset change among team
members was also not consistent: Some are more prepared to embrace collaboration and
adopt an open-minded attitude; others less so. This may be heavily influenced by the
background and personality of individual team members, and the organizational culture
where they belong to. In addition, the visioning and objective setting were heavily
focused on the healthcare perspective. With the benefit of hindsight, some sharing or
workshop emphasizing on system-thinking, e.g. between healthcare operation and built
environment, between nature and built environment, and between building systems
within the built environment, at the very early stage of the design process would have
been beneficial.
5.2.4 Lack of Integrated Design Process Toolkit
The Integrated design process guide or toolkits, some of which were briefly explored in
Section 2.3, were not available to the KTPH project team during the project. It is believed
that such toolkit would have provided a more systematic guide to better manage the
integrated design process.
5.2.5 Fragmentary Design and Documentation Platform
Computer aided design (CAD) was used as the predominant design and documentation
platform, supported by manual sketches, disparate software analysis tools and building
performance simulation software. This had resulted in a fragmentary design and
documentation process that has typically been troubling the building industry:
coordination between different sets of drawings. The complexity of the hospital
programme has simply compound the problem and hence workload.
127
5.2.6 Issues Related to Contractor Appointed via Conventional
Approach
As the contractor was appointed in the conventional design-bid-build approach, they
were not included in the practice of integrated design. Coming on board after the tender
award, they had certainly missed most of the design iteration processes, where insights
and purpose of the project were reiterated through group dynamics and narration.50 In
addition, in keeping with the prevalent practice in the Singapore construction industry, a
large amount of construction detailed drawings were contractually the responsibilities of
the contractors, through the submission of shopdrawings to be checked by the building
professionals. In reality, the contractors simply could not cope with the demand of
designing and managing construction at the same time, especially under the intense
pressure of a fast track building programme. As a result, a significant degree of the early
good design intention faced implementation hurdles. A case in point is the need to lower
part of the ceiling heights in the wards due to the need to accommodate the M&E
services in the ceiling space, affecting the amount of daylight entering the wards.51
5.3 Discussion: the Practice of Integrated Design
Arising from the lessons learnt, further questions may be framed using Batshalom and
Reed’s IDP Mental Model (Figure 5.2), as follows:
1. Who is the leader in integrated design? Specifically, without the leadership from
AH/KTPH CEO Liak Teng Lit, would the outcome for KTPH be the same? Can
we expect the architects, recognized as the leader of the building professionals, be
able to perpetuate the sustainability agenda and integrated design leadership
roles?52
50 Appendix II provides a theoretical reference on importance of team-based design iteration,
group dynamics, client’s role in team-based design process, and conversation in team-based
design process. 51 With the benefit of hindsight, such occurrence may have been avoided if BIM was used to
coordinate the design during design development stage. This is indeed being done in some of
Singapore and CPG’s current projects. 52 Refer also to Section 2.3.1 and footnote 15.
128
2. In the process of carrying out this research, one major challenge was the
investigation of the iterative process. As much of the iterative process was done
through conversation or narration, which were never completely and
comprehensively recorded in practice, the only way to investigate is via
interview based on project team members’ recollection. To facilitate the iterative
investigation or reflection, how can the conversational or narrative aspects of
design process be better documented?
3. Without participation from contractor, the integrated design process is
incomplete. How can Singapore develop a procurement method that allows
earlier participation of the contractors and fabricators?
4. How would most holistic process change, e.g. as proposed in AIA’s integrated
project delivery (AIA, 2007) benefit integrated design and sustainable
architecture? How would it impact Singapore’s practice and industries?
There are no immediate answers to these questions, but they serve as good starting
points as research areas in the knowledge and practice of integrated design, as
recommended in the next section.
Figure 5.2 KTPH Integrated design process: questions framed with the IDP Mental Model
Who is the
leader in the
sustainability
and
integrated
design
approach?
How can the
narrative
aspect of
design
process be
better
documented?
How can
Singapore
develop a
procurement
method that
allows earlier
participation of
the contractors
and fabricators?
How would a
holistic process
change
including a
design and
documentation
platform
facilitate
sustainable
architecture?
129
5.4 Recommendations
Through the insights gained from the research, the following recommendations are
made to advance the knowledge and practice of integrated design in healthcare
architecture in the Singapore context:
1. To research into the construction and commissioning aspects of KTPH and their
impacts on the operational outcomes.
2. To conduct post-occupancy research along the triple-bottom-line approach on
KTPH’s sustainability performance, as proposed in Table 5.4. Such research will
contribute to building up the body of works necessary to support evidence-based
design premised in Singapore.
3. Conduct research into the narrative or ‘design as conversations’ (Lawson, 2005)
aspects of the integrated design process, to better understand how design though
processes and decisions are arrived at in a group setting. It will contribute to the
knowledge and hence practice of integrated design, and perhaps even spawn a
Table 5.4 Areas of study proposed for sustainability performance of KTPH
S/No. Attributes Eco Soc Env
1 Building performance in terms of energy and water saving benchmarked
against local and international data.
2 Measurement of clinician/staff morale and productivity improves due to
better physiological, psychological and sociological well-beings.
3 Measurement of patient well being and recovery time due to the social and
environmental (i.e. biophllic) attributes of KTPH.
4 Measurement of family and visitor well being due to the social and
environmental (i.e. biophllic) attributes of KTPH.
5 Effectiveness of community participation in KTPH’s community stewardship
programmes due to the social and environmental attributes in KTPH
6 Enhancement of ecological outcome, e.g. improvements in biodiversity
Eco = Economic Sustainability
Soc = Social/Human Wellness Sustainability
Env = Environmental/Ecological Sustainability
130
new field of ‘integrated design management’. 53 This may provide valuable
insights in leveraging on architect’s skills as “three-dimensional problem solvers”
(Williams, 2007, p. 14) to also be an IDP champion and/or facilitator (Section
2.3.3.1).
4. To consider and research into holistic process change suitable for the Singapore
context, for example:
Collaborative practice model with BIM as the information platform (e.g.
integrated project delivery (IPD) as proposed by AIA, 2007; see Appendix III);
Early involvement of contractor and fabricator as stakeholders. This will
require a re-thinking in the procurement and execution method for building
contracts, e.g. IPD and lean construction principles (Abdelhamid, 2008) 54.
Just as lean principles have been appropriated in the manufacturing and
healthcare practices (Carpenter, 2012), 55 the emerging application of ‘lean
principles’ in the design (Haynes, 2012) 56 and construction practices
(Abdelhamid, 2008) warrants further studies.
53 Sinclair (2008) commented that “there are very few books devoted to the management of the
architectural design process” (p. 1), and design management is “the discipline of planning,
organising and managing the design process to bring about the successful completion of specific
project goals and objectives” (Ibid., p. 4). The same rigour must surely be extended to the
integrated design process. 54 Lean construction refers to a production philosophy to minimize waste of materials, time, and
effort in order to generate the maximum possible amount of value. It requires the collaboration of
all project participants, client, consultants, contractors, facility managers, and users at early stages
of the project. This requires a new contractual arrangement where constructors and perhaps
facility managers play a role in informing and influencing the design (Abdelhamid, 2008). 55 In “Lean-Led Design: Rules of the Road”, Teresa Carpenter proposed that lean principles be
adopted as “a systematic approach to healthcare architectural design that focuses on defining,
developing and integrating safe, efficient, waste-free operational processes in order to create the
most supportive, patient-focused physical environment possible.” (Lean Healthcare Exchange,
2012) 56 In ”Adopting Lean Practices in the Architectural/Engineering Industry”, David Haynes
proposed that “lean processes in the manufacturing world could be translated in the AEC
industry through BIM” (AECbytes Viewpoint #63). He proposed that “Lean Design adopts
principles from business processes such as Six Sigma and Lean, and uses workflow techniques
that include workflow principles of Integrated Project Delivery (IPD),” by combining the data rich
information in a BIM project with new workflow techniques to increase efficiency and reduce
waste [and] become more integrated in the project and gain greater customer satisfaction.” (Ibid.)
131
Appendix I: Roles of Team Members By Design Phases
“During conceptual design, the owner is convinced
that the design team has a vision worth pursuing.
During the schematic design, the design team
convinces itself that the vision sold to the owner is
in fact feasible.”
Alison Kwok and Walter Grondzik
132
Appendix I
Source: Roadmap for the Integrated Design Process, p.107
133
Appendix I (Cont’d)
Source: Roadmap for the Integrated Design Process, p.108
134
Appendix I (Cont’d)
Source: Roadmap for the Integrated Design Process, p.109
135
Appendix I (Cont’d)
Source: Roadmap for the Integrated Design Process, p.110
136
Appendix II: Iterative Process in Integrated Design
“An iterative process allows communication at
every level, so that each team member’s design
decisions can be informed by an understanding of
how their works relate to the whole.”
7group and Bill Reed
137
Appendix II
II. Iterative Process in Integrated Design
By drawing from literature, this Appendix explores that iterative process in integrated
design as follows:
1) Design iteration in theory;
2) Team-based design iteration;
3) Various iteration methodologies to support integrated design.
1.0 Design Iteration in Theory
In ‘How Designers Think’, Bryan Lawson (2005), with inferences from earlier literature,
identified that design is an outcome of cognitive process, production process and
evaluation process; and often intertwines with these processes is the briefing process.
These are explored in Section 1.1 to 1.4.
1.1 The Cognitive Process
In the cognitive process, two types of thought processes are the most important in
design: reasoning/problem-solving and imaginative thinking. The former “requires more
attention to the demands of the external world” whilst the latter “is primarily concerned
with satisfying inner needs through cognitive activity which may be quite unrelated to
the real world” (Lawson, 2005, p. 138). This appears to echo the reseach/analysis phase of
the integrated design process (Dissertation Section 2.3.34).
1.2 The Production Process
A skilled or mature designer, with an ability to control the direction of his/her thinking,
is able to steer the thinking towards a desirable outcome, i.e. production. The two major
categories of productive thoughts are convergent and divergent production, the former
being the outcome of largely rational and logical processes, whilst the latter being the
outcome of largely intuitive and imaginative processes. “Design clearly involves both
convergent and divergent productive thinking, and studies of good designers at work
138
have shown that they are able to develop and maintain several lines of thoughts in
parallel” (Ibid., p. 143).
Lawson has also pointed out by way of the process of designing a window (Fig II-1) that
good design is often an outcome of integration. When dealing with a design as complex
as a building, in which there are many inter-related issues (or for Lawson, constraints),
there are many possibilities towards a well-integrated solution, and designers tend to
deal with it in two ways: generation of alternatives and by employing several ‘parallel
lines of thoughts’. ‘Parallel lines of thought’ is a phrase first used by Lawson (1993) to
describe a parallel examination into different aspects of the same design, for example,
“investigating detail and large scale issues in parallel” (Lawson, 2005, p. 212), or say,
developing and sustaining “many incomplete and nebulous ideas about various aspects
of their solutions” (Ibid., p. 212), and traits of creative thought processes are often
observed in both. At this juncture, it is also important to recognize that in the generation
Figure II-1 The whole host of issues to be considered in designing a window: one of the many
component and part of some inter-related systems in a building. Source: Lawson, 2005, p. 59
Appendix II (Cont’d)
139
of these alternatives, the designers are guided by their individual interests, approaches
and strategies as well as responding to requirements or constraints imposed by
legislation, clients, other consultants, and users (directly or indirectly); there are hence
many possible routes in the creative thought process (Ibid.). The generation of multiple
alternatives of thoughts allows the interplay between the values, issues, requirements,
problems and constraints to be tested visually, either as diagrammes, 2D drawings or 3D
visual rendering, on paper or computer/video display, as well as through conversation
(Ibid.). With reference to the integrated design process, this may possibly take place in
the reseach/analysis phase, or the workshop/charrette sessions of the integrated design
process (Dissertation Section 2.3.3.4).
1.3 The Briefing Process
Intertwines in the production process is often, but not always, a parallel process known
as the briefing process (Ibid.). In theory, the idealized design process assumes that a clear
design brief is established before the design even started. This assumption is based on
the premise that the design end product is a solution to some sort of problems, or needs,
hence the design problems or needs have to be defined up front (Ibid.). In practice,
however, it is found that design problems are often never fully described at the start of
the design process. Even if it is described in details, it often changes and evolves, because
the design process actually begins to develop the brief as it formulates a solution (Ibid.).
This is because good design often deal with the multiplicity of the values, issues,
requirements, problems and constraints by employing “a very few major dominating
ideas which structure the scheme and around which the minor considerations are
organized.” (Ibid., p. 189) The early generation of alternatives or parallel lines of
thoughts allows the interplay of values, issues, requirements, problems and constraints
to be tested and visually communicated with the project stakeholders: clients,
consultants, and sometimes builders and users. Such iterative process often helps to
shape and crystallize the brief:
Appendix II (Cont’d)
140
“…both empirical research and anecdotal evidence gathered from practising
designers suggest that the early phases of design are often characterised by what
we might call analysis through synthesis. The problem is studied not in minute
detail but in a fairly rough way as the designer tries to identify not the most
important (to the client) issues, but the most crucial in determining form. Once a
solution idea can be formulated, however nebulous it may be, it can be checked
against other more detailed problems.” (Lawson, 2005, p.p. 197-198)
“It is interesting that these and other designers studied who use the generation of
alternatives, often show them to their clients. This seems to become part of the
briefing process; a way of drawing more information out of the client about what
is really wanted.” (Ibid., p. 210)
An understanding of the briefing process in KTPH may be gained by reading Sections
3.3 and 5.2.1 of this dissertation.
1.4 The Evaluation Process
Eventually, the ideas produced will need to be evaluated, and decisions of which ideas
to be adopted and integrated into a holistic solution will have to be made. “Designers
must be able to perform both objective and subjective evaluations and be able to make
judgements about the relative benefits of them even though they may rely on
incompatible methods of measurement” (Ibid., p. 298). For the integrated design process,
this is recommended to take place in the all-stakeholders workshop sessions
(Dissertation Section 2.3.3.4).
2.0 Team-Based Design Iteration
So far, the designer has largely been described as a person. With the exception of small
scale projects e.g. single-family house, building projects usually involve many people in
a design team, comprising architects, who are likely to have team members focusing on
different aspects of the project, as well as civil & structural engineers, mechanical &
Appendix II (Cont’d)
141
electrical engineers, and possibly many other specialized consultants, such as quantity
Patient Greeters Help extend a warm welcome to visitors and assist them
with directions to the desired clinics / offices / wards.
Weekdays during office
hours, 2 hrs per session,
timing flexible.
Contact Centre
CALL-eagues
Assist call centre by answering simple queries and
extending the hassle-free experience beyond KTPH
premises.
Weekdays from 12 pm to 2
pm, Saturdays from 10 am
to 12 pm
Gardening Club Create a healing environment for patients by tending to
our gardens and organic rooftop vegetable farm.
Timing flexible, dependent
on weather. At least 2 hrs
per session.
A&E Next of
Kin Counter
Ease the anxiety of relatives of patients who are in the
restricted A&E observation area. Provide updates and
help answer queries about the admission process.
Any day of the week,
timing flexible, 2 hrs per
session
Patient related Activities
Patient
Companions
Accompany patients during their outpatient
appointments. Escort patients to the clinics and
pharmacy, provide a listening ear and help patients
understand instructions from healthcare workers.
Weekdays during office
hours. Timing flexible,
dependent on patient’s
appointment time.
Befrienders Make weekly or bi-weekly visits to patients’ homes to
follow up on their progress, interact with them and
provide a listening ear.
Timing flexible, dependent
on patient’s availability.
Home-based
para
counselling
Certified counsellors sought to provide assistance to
patients and caregivers at their homes via weekly or bi-
weekly visits.
Timing flexible, dependent
on patient’s / caregiver’s
availability.
Inpatient
Mobile Library
Team
Read with inpatients by bringing KTPH’s mobile library
of reading materials to them.
Any day of the week
9.30 am – 11.30 am or
3.30 am – 5.30 pm
Events & Logistics
Logistics/
Administration
Support the admin and operations departments through
tasks such as data entry and database management,
design of publicity materials, placement of posters and
signage for various events, wrapping corporate gifts,
packing corporate collaterals etc.
Weekdays during office
hours, 3 hrs per session,
timing flexible.
References: 1 http://www.ktph.com.sg/main/pages/1443 [online] <Accessed on 31.12.2011>.
209
Appendix XV: KTPH’s Environmental Stewardship
“For more than 99 percent of human history people
have lived in hunter–gatherer bands totally and
intimately involved with other organisms. During
this period of deep history, and still further back
they depended on an exact learned knowledge of
crucial aspects of natural history. . . . In short, the
brain evolved in a biocentric world, not a machine-
regulated world.”
Edward Osborne Wilson
210
Appendix XV
XV. KTPH’s Environmental Stewardship
By adopting an integrated approach in site planning, connecting the KTPH’s
environment with Ponggol Pond and the Yishun natural and community context, the
design opens up opportunities for community and environmental stewardship for
KTPH, as discussed in Section 1.0 to 3.0:
4. Maximizing opportunities in creating a biophillic built environment (Section 1.0).
5. Integrating with Yishun Pond environmentally and socially (Section 2.0).
6. Fostering biodiversity (Section 3.0).
1.0 Biophilic Built Environment
Some Yishun residents, including retired farmers in the Yishun community (Wu, 2011, p.
108) had volunteered to tend to the rooftop vegetable and fruit gardens at KTPH (AHa!
Mar-Apr 2010, p. 11; Figure XIV-1, XIV-2). One key volunteer with green fingers, 68-year
old Mdm Lim Chew Eng, who also tends to community farm in Yishun town, shared her
experience and help create an urban farm in the hospital (Ibid.). The produce such as
“tomatoes, melons, and bananas” (Wu, 2011, p. 107) is shared between volunteers and
the hospital kitchen, and composted food waste from the hospital kitchen provided
fertilizer for the crops (Ibid, p.107). KTPH reported that:
KTPH’s “Chief Gardener”, Rosalind Tan, who oversees the volunteer gardeners
said that residents were keen to get involved and brought their friends along. She
welcomes them and others too…Urban farming on the rooftop not only provides
the hospital’s kitchen with an organic food source for our patients, it also reduces
the temperature of the building and involves the community in caring for our
patients and the environment. (Alexandra Health Newsletter AHa! Mar-Apr
2010, p. 11)
211
Appendix XV (Cont’d)
Besides vegetable gardening, many other biophilic features including therapeutic
gardens, patios, balconies, terraces (Figure XIV-4), courtyards (Figure XIV-3), and water
as therapeutic modality (Figure 3.3, 3.18, 3.19), etc that Verderber (2010) has
recommended for the hospital environment, with KTPH providing some examples.
Figure XIV-1 Rooftop vegetable gardens at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital
Source: CPG Consultants Pte Ltd
Figure XIV-2 Yishun resident volunteers led by Rosalnd Tan (Second from right) working on the
“Urban Farm” above KTPH. Source: Alexandra Health Newsletter AHa! Mar-Apr 2010, p. 11
212
Appendix XV (Cont’d)
In his thesis, Kong (2005) “suggests that gardening, people, and environment form a
triangle of interrelationships…where one stimulates the other” (Bay and Ong, 2006, p.
75). As participants tend to the KTPH urban farm with care and interest, creating a sense
of community ownership, the “plant in turn improve the environment, the activity
increases, improving the casual knowing of neighbours and sense of community, and
thus in turn encourage more interest in gardening [and/or farming]”(Ibid., p. 75). Nature
and community henceforth develops a symbiotic relationship.
Figure XIV-3 Interrelationships of gardening in semi-open space, people and climate in tropical high-
rise housings. Source: P. Kong in Bay and Ong, 2006, p. 75.
Figure XIV-4 Rooftop gardens, balconies, patios at KTPH help reduce the indoor temperature and
mitigate urban heat island effect. Source: CPG Consultants Pte Ltd
213
Appendix XV (Cont’d)
2.0 Integration with Yishun Pond
KTPH adopted the Yishun pond in 2005 under Public Utilities Board (PUB)’s ‘Our
Waters Programme’, and participated actively in plans to transform it into a green lung,
e.g. organizing regular pond clean-ups of areas around the pond (AHa! Sep-Oct 2010, p.
2)63. With the opening of KTPH, through a collaboration between National Environment
Agency (NEA), PUB, National Parks Board (NPB) and Alexandra Health (KTPH’s
holding company), improvement work was carried out at Yishun Pond “to turn it into an
intergenerational, health promoting garden that will be integrated with the hospital”
(Ibid.).
It provided more and better park facilities for residents living in the surrounding Yishun
communities to exercise and interact. Marshlands created along the shore softens the
water edge and improve water quality by filtering pollutants through the use of aquatic
plants, as well as attracting wildlife and enhancing biodiversity. “A barrier-free lakeside
promenade was built to connect KTPH’s central courtyard to the garden” (Ibid.),
providing more opportunities for KTPH to spread health promoting messages among
patients and Yishun residents (Ibid.).
PUB’s Active, Beautiful, Clean Programme (ABC) launced in 2006 is a “strategic
initiative to improve the quality of water and life by harnessing the full potential of our
waterbodies…by integrating the drains, canals and reservoirs with the surrounding
environment in a holistic way” (ABC Guidelines, p. 4). Under the ABC programme, built
environment that harness water sensitive urban design and sustainable drainage
principles may be ABC certified, and KTPH is ABC-certified in 2010. The following
reasons were cited (PUB):64
1. Planter boxes and green roofs detain and treat 12% of rain water run-off that is
harvested for reuse.
63 Alexandra Health Newsletter, AHa! Sep-Oct 2010, p. 2 64 PUB Website: http://www.pub.gov.sg/abcwaters/ABCcertified/Pages/2010.aspx#a6
214
Appendix XV (Cont’d)
2. A green wall and terraced landscape enhances the lushness of the area while
resting and seating facilities along streams and water features bring people closer
to water.
3. Integration with the nearby Yishun Pond, with extensive plantings providing a
tranquil and scenic environment for the hospital’s patients and visitors while
creating a suitable habitat for birds and butterflies.
4. Collaborates with schools and institutions in programs such as Earth Day to
spread educational messages.
3.0 Fostering Biodiversity
“Sustainable development and the preservation of biodiversity are important
components of KTPH’s environmental philosophy. Vast areas of KTPH have
been earmarked for landscaping and planting to encourage the creation of
habitats and a healthy environmental ecosystem.” (KTPH) 65
The core KTPH management and team migrated from Alexandra Hospital (AH), 66
including Rosalind Tan, KTPH’s “Chief Gardener”. As reported (TODAY, 2007), 67 she
was a senior executive at AH’s operations department, and since 2000, she has led the
AH team in transforming “12 hectares of the hospital grounds, bringing in 500 species of
trees and shrubs, aromatic flowers, water features — even a butterfly trail that boasts 100
species.” (Ibid.) For her contributions towards environmental sustainability, she was
awarded the inaugural EcoFriend Award by the National Environment Agency.
AH’s garden is popular on weekends, “with former patients bringing their families there
for a stroll, and members of nature societies using it as a study ground” (Ibid.; Table XV-
1)
65 KTPH Website: http://www.ktph.com.sg/main/explore_ktph_pages/232 66See ‘History of Alexandra Hospital’. In: Alexandra Hospital Website. [online] Available at:
<http://www.alexhosp.com.sg/index.php/about_us/our_history> [Accessed 31.12.2011] 67 See Chang, C. (2007). Solace in the hospital grounds. In Channel News Asia Website. [online]
Available at: <http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/282365
/1/.html> [Accessed 31.12.2011]
215
Appendix XV (Cont’d)
Table XV-1 Nature Activities and Reports of Alexandra Hospital’s garden and butterfly sighting.
Date. Event
30.07.2005 Perry, M. Alexandra Hospital opens new garden of medicinal plants. Channel News Asia