Healthcare Architecture and the Green Tao (Path)
“If you wish to sustain your body in good health, take care of the world. Your body is part of the world; so you cannot abuse the world, and still expect your body to remain well.
By treating the world well, you can be at peace with it. By being at peace with the world, you can be calm. By being calm, you can follow the Way.” 
CHUANG TZU
“Well body, well earth” – a phrase originating in the United States – tells us that our health and that of the world around us are one and the same thing. The earth is like family, and that means we are committing incest in our times. There are no taboo’s in today’s’ pursuit of happiness. Studied rapacity can be said to be the battle cry of material progress, bent knowledge.
“Food, clothing and shelter – roti, kapda aur makaan.” The production of all three affect the ecological balance, but of the three it is shelter – makaan – that is the worst offender. Healthcare facilities shelter healthcare activities, and surely the buildings that house these activities should take the lead in safeguarding the health of the community it serves and the world it is an integral part of.
However, consider the following extract from the “High Performance Building Guidelines”, City of New York, Department of Design and Construction, April 1999.
Hidden costs of construction 
The hidden costs of construction include the adverse environmental impacts of construction-related activities. Today’s design decisions have local, regional, and global consequences. According to the Worldwatch Institute, almost 40% of the 7.5 billion tons of raw materials annually extracted from the earth are transformed into the concrete, steel, sheetrock, glass, rubber and other elements of our built environment. In the process, landscapes and forests are destroyed, and pollutants are released into the soil, water, and air. Twenty-five percent of our annual wood harvest is used for construction, which contributes to flooding, deforestation, and loss of biodiversity.
Operating a facility extracts an ongoing toll on the environment as well. Globally, buildings use about 16% of our total water withdrawals; in the US that amounts to about 55 gallons per person per day. Buildings consume about 40% of the world’s energy production. As a consequence, buildings (among them healthcare facilities) are involved in producing about 40% of the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides that cause acid rain and contribute to smog formation. Building energy use also produces 33%, or roughly 2.5 billion tons, of all annual carbon dioxide emissions, significantly contributing to the climate changes wrought by the accumulation of this heat-trapping gas.
Maybe you thought the language I was using above was strong. Do you still think so? Shelter is a basic human need, and we architects are the custodians of the social conscience as far as the building industry (including healthcare facilities) goes. Nobody else involved gives a damn. But most architects worldwide (healthcare or otherwise) are sadly ignorant of even the basic principles of ‘green’ or ‘sustainable’ architecture (the inverted comma’s speak for themselves.)
Let us hear from Lieh Tzu, a Chinese philosopher: 
A craftsman carved a model of a mulberry leaf out of jade. The task took him three years. It’s shape, veins, color and luster were identical to those of a real mulberry leaf; so when it was put amongst real leaves, no one could spot it. The craftsman presented the model leaf to the king. The king was so pleased that he rewarded the craftsman with a salary and a house.
When Lieh Tzu heard about the craftsman’s work and reward, he said: ‘If the soil was so slow that it took three years to produce a leaf, trees would be almost bare. Let human beings do what they are destined to do.’
Are not we designers like the craftsman mentioned above, working for the approval of kings, conquering nature for salaries and houses. We healthcare facility designers should particularly hang our heads in shame.
Let us attempt to be calm, and follow the Way, living in harmony with nature.
It’s only natural.
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