Renovating community hospitals in Trang and Narathiwat province in Thailand using participation and universal design

Background

In late 2016, ten King’s hospitals across Thailand were chosen for renovation by different teams of community architects using government funding. The project aimed to transform these small district hospitals into community hospitals, to be central attributes of the communities they serve. With that in mind, each hospital gets funding to renovate two areas: the hospital’s Masterplan and a multi-function building. Tar-Saeng Studio was commissioned to undertake the renovation of two hospitals: Had Samran Hospital in Trang and Yi-ngo hospital in Narathiwat.

King’s community hospitals

We have used a participatory approach throughout this project, both with the community and with the hospital staff. We kick-started the project with a visit which served as a reconnaissance mission with the research team, composed by hospital staff, and representatives from the Thai Health Promotion Foundation and the Ministry of Public Health. This visit was the first meeting with the Health Department and other government agencies involved with the Masterplan to introduce the project and visit the hospitals, gathering information on the sites chosen by the Design and Construction Division of the Public Health Ministry, together with the local communities. We completed transect walks around the hospitals with hospital staff and meetings with all the representatives.

We then focused on discerning each district’s identity, to promote it throughout the hospital renovation. Members of all the neighbouring communities and hospital staff were invited to reflect on what the district’s identity is, what their dream hospital looks like, and how we can achieve that.

We followed up with the design workshops, with a separate day for the community and the hospital staff, which produced a Masterplan for the renovation of each hospital, both for the buildings and outdoor areas. Once that was done, we set up an interactive exhibition in each hospital, exhibiting the findings from all previous visits, and inviting inputs from the community and the hospital staff. This step is essential to ensure we get input from those who are not comfortable raising their opinions publicly; it also empowers the local community to see their ideas heard, expressed and visualised in the exhibition.

We created a book to allow for further comments on this project. The Masterplans have now been completed and approved by the relevant teams; the hospitals will be built by 2020.

For more information on this project, please visit our dedicated pages for the renovation of the Had Samran community hospital and the Yi-ngo community hospital.