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What can good design offer that most functionally-distinct of building types, the hospital? Few well-known architects have been involved in their design and even fewer big architectural prizes have been awarded for them. And yet in almost no other building type are the consequences of getting the design wrong quite so serious.

Richly illustrated in full colour, Changing Hospital Architecture shows what can be achieved by reflecting on the UKs current huge hospital building programme in the light of historical and international experience. Aimed at health policy makers, architects and other construction professionals in the health sector, it points to potential exemplars, presents key issues and occasionally signals caution.

A wide-ranging international survey of case studies is drawn from countries with healthcare practices of direct relevance to the UK. The introduction is followed by three chapters that set the scene: a post-War history of the British hospital; an examination of the crucial and undervalued early inception stages of a hospital; and a revealing analysis of the changing context of the financing and construction of hospitals. Four chapters present evidence from around the world, spotlighting the UK, Europe, the USA and Australia. Finally, the book closes with a speculation on the architectural form of the future hospital.

Written by distinguished experts in the field and edited by the new RIBA President Sunand Prasad, Changing Hospital Architecture is a timely and important work set to galvanise the debate about design quality in our health buildings.

Contributors to the book include:- Derek Stow (Derek Stow & Partners), John Worthington (DEGW), Mike Davies (Catalyst Lend Lease Ltd), Susan Francis (CABE), Paul Hyett (RyderHKS International), John Jenner (Greenhill Jenner Architects), Doug Olson (NBBJ), and Lawrence Nield (Bligh Voller Nield Architects).