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Impacts of Wood, Concrete, and Glass in Minimizing Disease Spread, Final Essay
Architecture and public health have long been linked and have a common origin embedded in the historical understanding of cities being disorganized and unsanitary spaces. Since cities began forming and expanding, pandemics and public health crises have impacted urban populations, and the emergence of industrialization began to alter how diseases were spread[1]. Over the years, cities have been challenged by the outbreak of pandemics, especially communicable diseases, due to their ever-growing populations. Pandemic outbreaks, such as cholera, yellow fever, and tuberculosis, have necessitated these spaces to require intervention strategies to create more restrained, cleaner environments. As such, the planning of these cities has become integral in containing infectious diseases, with the most utilized materials being wood, glass, and concrete.
According to the World Health Organization (herein referred to as WHO), the public health paradigm is a social issue that goes far beyond the absence of disease[2]. Improving health conditions requires complete focus and long-term intervention through policy development. It also involves the changing of basic conditions - such as living environments, economic states, and governmental regimes - through compromise and communication between those in power. Since the mid-nineteenth century, architects and public health workers have collaborated to incorporate sustainable development in controlling the negative impacts of urbanization and industrialization on public health. Thus, urban centers have seen changes in design and material selection for buildings and other amenities such as sewage and drainage systems. As a result, sanitation quality increases, effectively minimizing the spread of disease and recovery periods.
The construction of healthcare facilities, namely hospitals, has significantly affected the environment. According to an article in the journal Hygiene, material selection has influenced the environment both through waste generation and energy consumption. It also affects the recovery and psychological condition of the occupants, whether patient or staff[3]. Hence, the architectural themes on the interior, such as nature-based designs, could help to reduce the stress level for the building’s occupants. The existence and development of iron and glass structures and the widespread use of concrete began to form true physical barriers between spaces, blocking disease agents from reaping their effects on growing populations.
Hospital buildings should facilitate medical staff to offer quality delivery of healthcare services and a positive environment for quick patient recovery. Although the material selection may determine the cleaning mode, the use of cleaning and enhancement chemicals is critical since it may pose more threats to individual health conditions. WHO highlights the threats posed by the environmental surfaces based on material selection. In many cases, hospitalized patients can face increased risks of Healthcare-Associated Infections (herein referred to as HAI), leading to prolonged admittance, high treatment costs, and possible disability. According to Hygiene, the material used in healthcare facilities may determine the severity of infections from causative microorganisms such as fungi, viruses, and bacteria possibly found on such surfaces. The spread and extent of mitigation depend on human and microorganism population levels.
Environmental surfaces and household surfaces may determine how diseases spread throughout a population. Hygiene defines environmental surfaces as non-clinical items such as medical devices, while household surfaces consist of washrooms, patient rooms, and surrounding objects. The contribution of these surfaces to infections and the spread level depends on the frequency of touch and contact. In this case, planning and the selection of materials facilitate the mitigation measures to reduce the impacts of the surfaces in disease contribution[4]. These surfaces include high-contact surfaces such as bed rails, taps, sinks, and door handles, medium contacts such as furniture, floors, and window frames, and low contacts such as walls and ceilings. Architects ought to consider these factors and the population levels of a space to determine the optimum type and level of material used to mitigate infections and disease spreads.
Use of Wood in Buildings and Its Hygienic Perspective
Wood is used in medium to low-contact or non-contact surfaces to minimize their contribution to HAI transmission. It is also evident that wood materials have numerous advantages due to their chemical and antimicrobial properties, therefore wood has a huge impact on hygienic safety, as well as aesthetic property. Timber designs have been integral in enhancing cheap and unique structures and complementing other materials. Despite being readily available, it also reshapes how people interact with nature. Hygiene indicates that the promotion of sustainable construction helped to reshape healthcare building demands and enhance the use of eco-friendly materials[5]. As a result, architects intensified the use of low-waste and recyclable materials to enhance low embodied energy with less environmental impact.
Wood is a renewable and organic resource of nature that is used for eco-friendly constructions as well as promoting nature-based aesthetics. Wood can be used in both the interior and exterior for construction and/or aesthetics. Hygiene indicates the effectiveness of timber or wood materials in reducing stress, leading to their widespread use[6]. According to WHO, the intention of the collaboration of architects and healthcare providers is to reduce or control people from exposure to disease agents. Hence, the construction of healthcare buildings and other facilities has been strictly enhanced to minimize or avoid stimulating additional risks against their occupants. However, there is growing concern over the contribution of wood in spreading microbial organisms. While WHO insists on the essence of selection of material that minimizes the risks of disease spread, it is necessary to assess how wood materials meet this obligation. Hygiene clears the doubt that wood is riskier and unhygienic due to its porosity and organic nature. Since most people fear that wood, if not treated, can be breeding grounds for microbial organisms, which can contribute to more disease outbreaks, the journal assures that wood materials are safe from HAIs due to their antimicrobial properties.
In addition to minimizing pathogen-induced HAIs, wood materials also reduce the spread of disease from common microbes such as COVID-19 since they survive less on porous materials than on non-porous or smooth solid materials. Hygiene indicates that wood's porosity, treatment, and coating ensure that the wood materials are safe for use and effectively curb disease spread. Other enhancements include painting, pigmenting, waterproofing, staining, and using chemicals such as resins, solvents, pesticides, and adhesives to minimize the breeding areas for pathogens and microbes within wood. Like any other material, the hygienic nature of use or selection of materials like glass, plastics, and steel depends on the ease of cleaning them. In most cases, however, wood materials are among the easiest to clean, especially when constructed indoors.
Use of Concrete
Concrete construction enables architects to integrate safety measures in healthcare facilities, urban planning, and optimum building performance. Concrete, according to Specify Concrete, has been perceived to be the best construction material due to its longevity and strength[7]. Its physical ability to withstand stress and weight, as well as its natural fire-proofing properties, proves its rigidity and protection against any kind of disaster. Healthcare facilities such as clinics, hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, outpatient facilities, and assisted living communities have extensively built structures using concrete. It highlights the numerous backgrounds that can be impacted by disease spread if strict care is not maintained.
The health benefit of reducing infectious diseases is achieved through proper healthcare and the proper design of communities and living spaces. Architects must plan and design structures to minimize the spread of pandemics and infectious diseases. The subsequent adoption of concrete within housing design and construction can reduce disease transmission through adequate integration of facilities that enhance access to shade, define opportunities for social interaction, and provide clean air through ventilation. Architects designing a healthcare facility can incorporate these same measures to ensure a similarly sterile environment.
Based on WHO's specification of the important aspects of health properties of material selection in design, concrete has many advantages in promoting safety, disease control, and accident reduction, compared to other construction materials. With architects concerned with minimizing fatalities and injuries, concrete use in healthcare raises concerns about exposure to toxins, such as lead and asbestos[8]. However, concrete structures meet the patient’s and staff's needs, especially for those who are sensitive to contaminants and mold. Designing healthcare facilities constitute an extensive planning phase to enhance not only the resistance and aesthetic nature but also the health needs of occupants.
Modern designs have incorporated effective disease prevention measures to minimize the modes of transmission such as wind and poor ventilation which can transmit diseases such as tuberculosis and flooding and water contamination which is responsible for transmitting diseases such as cholera. Another use of concrete, prominently in healthcare, is for reducing off-gassing. According to Specify Concrete, concrete is critical in minimizing complications by shielding radiation from sophisticated equipment and unprotected occupants in the facility. An architect’s incorporation of limestone is effective in addressing these needs and optimizing the care for a hospital’s patients. Concrete also contributes to environmental protection through efficient energy use and waste prevention which could facilitate the emergence of new diseases. This concern collaborates with the architects and healthcare providers' intention to minimize the ecological and social consequences of infections on the most vulnerable urban populations.
Concrete allows for an optimum healthcare environment which contains effective conditions for patient recovery and prevents contacts that would lead to more infections. According to Specify Concrete, concrete allows a flexible temperature and light selection in individual rooms without disturbing people occupying other rooms. Another notable feature of concrete is its sound attenuation[9]. Concrete's soundproof nature allows for the prevention of excessive sound, and an architect’s integration of insulated concrete forms and EPS foams to enhance sound attenuation create a restful environment free from outside noise.
Use of Glass
The improvements to glass technology have enhanced how architects integrate the material to meet healthcare needs. Glass was a revolutionary enhancement in construction and is a forward-thinking material to contribute to an aesthetic and healing environment. Architect Magazine, a subsidiary of the Journal of the American Institute of Architects, indicates how glass has impacted disease control and healthcare facilities[10]. For example, ultra-clear low-iron glasses have enhanced transparency and solar control, which facilitates a unique environment necessary for healing. Glass provides a heightened transparency and clarity level which reduces noise, glare, highlights a scenic view, and allows for the incorporation of natural light, in turn creating a relaxing environment, enhancing patient recovery patterns. It links the patients to a unique environment where they can no longer feel trapped in rooms or segregated from the outside world.
Direct sunlight can also be utilized to minimize disease spread among patients and accelerate healing through heat and UV exposure, which can kill disease and infections microorganisms. According to WHO, exposure to daylight in housing and overcrowded places minimizes communicable and infectious diseases[11]. The use of glass in architectural structures has effectively maximized this condition, thereby enhancing outbreak management. It also allows UV-mediated protection by killing viruses and reducing viral loads on various surfaces[12]. Cleaning glass surfaces is easier than most other construction materials, further minimizing the possibility of transmitting infections.
Conclusion
Specification of building materials in architecture is integral in determining the effectiveness of disease management by controlling outbreaks and spread. The basic consideration to meeting this objective is the ability of the material to enhance safety, minimize disease spread, illness prevention, and the enhancement of environment. The three main materials with studied advantages include concrete, wood, and glass. In researching these three materials, it was evident that each has a unique contribution to meeting health objectives and while offering unique qualities such as accelerating healing and aesthetic value. Architects must consider how factors such as pollution and energy consumption can create an unfavorable environment for infectious diseases to spread, and how something as trivial as a building’s materials can counteract those factors.
[1] Duhl, Leonard J., and Andrea K. Sanchez. Healthy Cities and the City Planning Process: A Background Document on Links Between Health and Urban Planning. EUR/ICP/CHDV 03 04 03. World Health Organization. WHO, 1999.
[2] Ibid. 8
[3] Munir, Muhammad Tanveer, Hélène Pailhoriès, Florence Aviat, Didier Lepelletier, Patrice Le Pape, Laurence Dubreil, Mark Irle et al. "Hygienic perspectives of wood in healthcare buildings." Hygiene 1, no. 1 (2021): 12-23.
[4] Duhl, Leonard J., and Andrea K. Sanchez. Healthy Cities and the City Planning Process: A Background Document on Links Between Health and Urban Planning. EUR/ICP/CHDV 03 04 03. World Health Organization. WHO, 1999.
[5] Duhl, Leonard J., and Andrea K. Sanchez. Healthy Cities and the City Planning Process: A Background Document on Links Between Health and Urban Planning. EUR/ICP/CHDV 03 04 03. World Health Organization. WHO, 1999.
[6] Ibid. 14
[7] Specify Concrete. “Concrete in Healthcare Construction,” 2020.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Architect Magazine. “Glass Helps Provide Patients with a Natural, Soothing Environment,” September 14, 2020.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Ibid.