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Architects Hawaii Limited to Host Seminar in Japan

Natural elements—including the ocean, plant life, mountains—influence interiors.

Mairi Beautyman -- Interior Design, 3/10/2006 12:00:00 AM

Architects Hawaii Limited (AHL) will represent the U.S. at the inaugural International Healthcare Seminar on March 10 at the Kameda Medical Center (the K-Tower) in Japan. The firm will address attendees on the construction of the Center and offer presentations on hospital design, from architectural and interior design viewpoints.

The Kameda Medical Center, which opened in 2005, is the first healthcare provider of its kind in Japan. A combination of Asian and Western traditions, the K-Tower features interiors influenced by nature. The ocean, plant life, mountains, sky, moon, stars, and sun, along with images of flora, fauna and humanity, emerge throughout each level in way-finding signage, colors, floor patterns, and artwork.

All patients benefit from private rooms—unique to Japan, where it is common for outpatients to wait for hours in large, overcrowded and uncomfortable spaces before being seen by physicians in exam rooms, which frequently lack privacy. In K-Tower rooms, custom-designed head walls conceal medical gases and power outlets and flat-screen monitors double as televisions and touch screen portals to the Internet.

“The axis of Japan’s healthcare delivery system is now tilting toward design elements implemented in the design of the K-Tower, such as patient privacy, healing, comforting and caring environments, way-finding, and patient-centered care,” notes AHL principal Walter Muraoka. The Center, he adds, balances technical realities with a patient-oriented approach, a method still new to healthcare.