Designing Waiting Spaces in Hospitals

This paper investigates the role of spatial design in satisfaction of about 240 waiting patients and their company in three hospitals in Shiraz City. The chemotherapy waiting room was selected for study in these three hospitals. These waiting rooms have more or less similar conditions and differ only in their spatial arrangement and relation to circulation corridors. The results indicate that visitor satisfaction increases as the sitting areas are more detached from corridors. Blocking view towards the chemotherapy area also has a positive impact on user satisfaction. Views towards green spaces, or at least peaceful posters has the same effect, too. So does the demarcation of spaces with different functions. Nevertheless, gender was found to have insignificant impact on spatial cognition.