Design enhancing instruments: Post Occupancy Evaluation in Hospice Design

Abstract

During construction , in this case of a healthcare facility, the “management”phase can determine, depending on the life cycle of the building, how long it can effectively last. Among different assessment methodologies, the Post Occupancy Evaluation methodology can still be considered the most reliable one, as it accounts for the specific needs of those who are directly interested and involved in the evaluation process: i.e. its users. Such instruments pertaining to health and social care allow us to acknowledge the degree ofsatisfaction recorded by a pool of users considered to be “fragile”, proving quite useful for Public Administrations and private enterprises to improve the quality of service in terms of efficiency and effectiveness as well as providing additional design input for new construction and/or redevelopment. This paper discusses a survey conducted on hospices.