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"HEALTH CARE ON THE MOVE"

HOSPITAL TRAIN AND TRASFORMATION

 
 
 
 
 

Watertown, Massachusetts 
Fall 2020 (half semester)
Partner Siying Han
Academic, Architecture Option Studio, Harvard GSD
Instructor Spela Videcnik & Rok Oman

The project's intention is to integrate the new urban norm with a system of mobility and explore a new dynamic of health care and a sustainable urban environment. Under technological and social forces, the mobility patterns constructed through existing infrastructural systems will have the ability to facilitate the consolidation of health care, while ensuring efficient health outcomes and patient experiences.

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The mobility health care system we are envisioning is not only a response to the global pandemic currently urgent but also a long-term solution for the achievement of urban resilience, for both the unpredictable transformation in the physical environment and embedded social crisis.

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‘Spaces of isolation’ does not follow with a single or static definition but one adapting to a variety of urban situations. While the infrastructural system eliminates the distance between one place and another, they marginalized fragments of urban spaces. With the nature of being a ‘space of isolation’ for the new norm that came along with covid-19, the railway system is an ideal ‘campground’ to accommodate individuals with medical needs. However, from another perspective, these fragmented spaces demand modifications to accommodate and stimulate communal exchanges to build up a sustainable urban model that is transformative in multiple layers of urban engagement, in order to fit in different periods of time and stages.

BACKGROUND-CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAKS

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Cases in last 7 days of Covid-19, CDC updated Sep 9th, 2020

 
 
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USNS Hospital Ship in NYC, March 30th, 2020

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Conventional medical system model

 
 
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Proposed medical hospital train system model

 
 

(a).

 
 
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(b).

 
 
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(c).

 
 
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Compared to the conventional medical system model which concentrates the resources in the urban hospital, the proposed medical hospital train distributes the workflow into several steps in different places and shortens the transit distance between the patients and medical services.

 

To achieve this by three steps:
(a). Redesign and remanufacture the traditional abandoned train cabin to ensure the spaces fulfill medical requirements. 
(b). Gather medical resources and overloaded patients at the railway station and loaded to the train.
(c). Run to the suburban areas where lack of medical services, stay on the abandoned railway line or create temporary camp to provide temporary medical surgery. 

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Space of Isolation Final Presentation_AH

Four potential sites for temporary medical camps

 
 

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC PERIOD

 Abandoned Watertown Branch 

 Fitchburg Line, Boston MBTA

 
 

The project does not have a specific site, but it is a health care model that can be applied to multiple areas. The hospital train can run to the place where the local hospitals are overloaded. The train uses the existing operating railway line for transfer and uses the abandoned railway line for stopping and provide temporary surgery to make up the medical resource shortage. The project is using the Watertown branch in Boston as an example which abandoned decades ago. The ideal sites for train stopping and create temporary camps are the marginalized urban space. They are always far away from the densely populated areas and can be easily isolated from the general citizens.

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Abandoned Railway Lines (photos from web)

 
 

REDESIGN THE CABINS

The cabins are designed into three different levels of medical standards to fulfill the different physical conditions of the patients. Module A and B have higher levels of medical equipment but due to the specific spatial requirements, they have less flexibility to transform into social housing after the COVID. Module C provides isolation rooms that have two different modes to adapt to the running or staying conditions of the train.

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Module A

Acute Care Train Cabin

 
 
 
​ICU (Intensive Care Unit) / Emergency Unit​
Laboratory Unit​
Pharmacy Unit​
Medical Assistant Station​
CT Scanner Room / Radiology Suites​
Isolation Ward:​
Anteroom / Airlock Clean Utility ​
Clean / Dirty Storage​
Ensuite (Shower and Toilet)
 
 

Higher acuity cares for COVID-19 patients, who require significant ventilatory support, including intensive monitoring on a ventilator. ​

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Module B

Inpatient Care Train Cabin

 
 
 
 

Intensive Care Bed​
Diagnostics ​
Medical Assistant Station​
Airlock​
Medication Storage / Preparation Area ​
Mental Health Consultation​
Food Service​
Ensuite (Shower and Toilet)

 
 

Mid-level care for moderately symptomatic COVID-19 patients, who require nursing care and assistance with activities of daily living (ADL). 

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Module C

Isolation Room Train Cabin

 
 
 

Patient Bed / Isolation Room ​
Housekeeping Unit​
Food Services / Kitchen Unit​
Laundry Facilities ​
Bathrooms

 
 

General, low-level care for mildly to moderately symptomatic COVID-19 patients, who do not require extensive nursing care or assistance with activities of daily living (ADL). 

Isolated Room Unit

 
 

Transit Mode

 
 

Expanded Mode

 
 

Kitchen and Maintenance Unit

 
 

Medical Lab Unit

 
 
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AFTER CORONAVIRUS TRANSFORMATION

DECONSTRUCT THE CABINS

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After the isolation of COVID, the modules contain the possibilities to be transformed and aggregated to revitalize the urban spaces where marginalized by the railways. 

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By cutting, unfolding, and recombining the cabins, multiple programs can be created. Three main programs within this site are a theater where people can gather, an outdoor reading deck connected to the existing public library, and a skateboard park for local youths. They like the anchor points that organize the entire community structure.  

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View to the skateboard park

 
 
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Existing Parking Lot

 
 
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COVID Condition-Temporary Camp for Medical Train 

 
 

Construction Steps - Right click to continue

 
 
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Final Axon

 
 
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Section cut through the theater

 
 
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Master Plan

 
 
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View to the theater

 
 
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