Mody Teaches Architects and Engineers – How to Build a Green Hospital!
The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) recently conducted a one day seminar on the need and impact of incorporating principles of Green Buildings as part of hospital design process. Knowledge in this area of human activity would normally flow from architects, engineers and energy consultants towards other people. It would never be expected that the knowledge flow would come from a medical specialist towards architects and engineers! However, an exception to this rule was provided when the IGBC invited Dr Bharat Mody, a world renowned Orthopedic Surgeon and Joint Specialist, to give a key note address on how he planned the building of Welcare Hospital in Vadodara. Dr Mody is the promoter and director of this 110 bed hospital which has become an iconic project in this category of hospital projects. He demonstrated how the use of Sciography and Psychrometry science helped design the form and orientation of Welcare Hospital building in a way which has helped in controlling the energy bill for the 100000 square feet centrally air-conditioned building to low levels consistently during the entire yearly cycle. This has helped Welcare Hospital in delivering a high level of Patient Comfort at a reasonable cost. Further, the ability to maintain low temperatures at an affordable cost to the management has increased Patient Safety by lowering infection rates to record levels.