Abstract
Diseases have impacted the built environment in many ways, whether it is through the planning of cities or the design of new building types. In the past, many of these were targeted only at specific problems brought forth by the particular disease of that period. This often led to the abandonment or renovation of properties after the disease has died down. The thesis aims to look into resilient architectural solutions by proposing a new building typology with flexible inhabitable spaces that grows with the people and the changing environment. Three main changes observed particularly during a pandemic were looked into, namely, hospital organisation, ventilation and comfort of occupants and visitors. Firstly, an on-off switch system would be employed to vary both environmental and spatial conditions during a pandemic when more space is required and in normal conditions respectively. Existing hospital workflow and circulation were then analysed and made reference to other examples for greater ease of access and increased observation on patients. Hospitals typically have slab block typology and are oriented away from the East-West sun, in favour of the predominant wind direction. These static buildings have limited performance all year round, with its linear circulation compromising direct access to patients. Hence, the thesis proposes the use of cylindrical massing coupled with responsive façades activated by an on-off switch system to obtain optimal and resilient building performance prepared for varying present and future conditions.