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MISSION

What is the UIA Public Health Group?
The UIA - PHG is one of the working bodies of the UIA, the Union International des Architects or International Union of Architects. It was founded in 1955 and represent members and guest from all continents and a growing participation from more than 60 countries in 2012.


Vision.
Within the context of the UIA philosophy it is the vision of the UIA-PHG that world public health can profit by the dedication of architects to provide efficient, safe and aesthetic health care buildings and an environment that can contribute to a more rapid healing of the patients as well as an improvement in staff operations and satisfaction.


Mission Statement.
To accomplish this vision the UIA-PHG should share its knowledge and experience not only within the group but also to other architects, engineers and consultants, health care managers and providers, health care organizations and governments, as well as to the general public. It should also initiate research projects that contribute to better health care buildings and environments.

Rubber Plant
Looking Out of a Skyscaper

​Activities.

The activities of the UIA-WP Public Health are determined by a lively exchange of information and mutual assistance among its members, the national sections, the national and international organizations and institutes of health and hospital care. The members are contributing with scientific and professional work, reports, publications and organizational work.

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The backbone of the activities are the International Public Health Seminars (IPHS) which are jointly organized with IHF and WHO, and the International Hospital Congresses, their discussion groups on architecture and engineering taken care of by the UIA-PHG. The subjects of the IPHS have always been of special indication, subjects to be rather treated at seminars or to supplement the themes of congresses.

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The UIA-PHG represents regularly the Union and the Group at various other events e.g. WHO assemblies and conferences, congresses on primary health care, nursing, hospital engineering, interstitial space, energy conservation, fire protection and others. In the recent past, joint conferences, e.g. with the Academy Architecture for Health of AIA, Tesis, Technical Chamber of Greece, IHF, United Architects of Philippines or with the BDA-AKG show the progress in the exchange of information toward the architects in practice.

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This trend towards treating the question of the work in practice is also visible by the increasing collaboration in regional conferences as for example in Havana (Cuba) 1988, Rome (Italy) 1989 and 1993, Jerusalem (Israel) 1990, Dusseldorf (Germany) 1991 and 1997, London (Great Britain) 1992 and Manila (Philippines) 2001.

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HISTORY

The work of the Group started with the 1st International Public Health Seminar (IPHS) 1957 at the Hospital Cantonal, Geneva, with 62 participants from 27 countries. The seminar was initiated to respond to the need for an international forum to share information and exchange ideas on how best to improve the planning and design of healthcare projects.

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Since its foundation, a decisive factor in the work of the Group has been the continuous dialogue and close collaboration with the leading international associations representing health and hospital care organisations.

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From its inception, the Public Health Group has collaborated with the International Hospital Federation at the International Hospital Congresses and the IHF-Pan Regional Congresses. One of the benefits of this relationship was the opportunity for members of the UIA PHG to participate in the study tours of hospitals organised by the International Hospital Federation.

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Following the International Public Health Seminar in 1966, a secretariat for the UIA Public Health Group was established in Athens, Greece with T. Papayannis as its Secretary.

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In 1971 the UIA-Section Federal Republic of Germany, Bund Deutscher Architekten (BDA), Bonn, took charge of the Public Health Group.  Richard Joachim Sahl, Architect BDAao, was elected its Secretary. During this period, the secretariat of the Public Health Group was located at Deutsches Krankenhausinstitut in Düsseldorf.


In 1990, the UIA-PHG organized its first Exchange Study Tours: one tour for the German, Dutch and Swiss colleagues going to Kiew - Moscow - Zagorsk - St. Petersburg, and one tour for the Russian and Ukrainian colleagues going through Germany - Belgium - Switzerland and Austria. These continued through to July 2002 when the last study tour of hospitals took place in Germany from Frankfurt via Erfurt-Weimar-Dresden-Meissen to Berlin.

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At the UIA-Council meeting held in Barcelona, Spain in July 1996, the UIA decided to restructure the work groups then extant. The term "Group" was replaced by the term "Work Program" and the term "Secretary" was replaced by "Director". At its 86th session held in Chandigarh in India, the UIA-Council accepted the appointment of Dr. Hans-Evert Gatermann, architect BDAao, as Director of the UIA Public Health Work Program.

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In 2003, the German Chamber of Architects informed the UIA that they no longer could support the Public Health Work Program for economic reasons and that the BAK would represent the German Architects at the UIA. The UIA reluctantly accepted this situation and expressed its appreciation of the work done by architect Hans Evert Gatermann as Director of the UIA Public Health Work Program, especially his work in establishing links with the World Health Organisation. 

 

As a result of these changes, architect Martin Fiset from Canada was appointed as the Director of the UIA Public Health Work Program from January 2004 to July 2005.

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At the 23rd Session of the General Assembly of the UIA in Istanbul in July 2005, architect Luub Wessels from the Netherlands was elected as the Director of the Public Health Work Program, on the nomination of the Dutch Federation of Architects. During his term in this role the secretariat was accommodated within the Netherlands Board for Healthcare Institutions.

 

Unfortunately during 2007 Luub Wessels had to retire from this role due to ill-health and in January 2008 Hans Eggen was appointed as the Director of the UIA Public Health Work Program.  Hans continued in this role until March 2012 when Professor George Mann from Texas A&M University was appointed as the Director of the UIA PHG.

 

Unfortunately, in September 2013, George Mann had to retire from this role due to ill-health just prior to the UIA PHG Seminar held in Toronto where Warren Kerr from Australia was elected as the Director.  Warren served in this role until the UIA PHG Congress in London in 2017 when Cliff Harvey from Canada was appointed as the Director.

 

For many years the work of each Director of the UIA PHG was ably supported by Janice Axon in her role as the Honorary Secretary of the Work Group.  This entailed preparing the minutes and agendas for the Annual Meetings of the UIA PHG, monitoring the actions and outcomes agreed at each meeting and maintaining the membership roll of Official Members and guests.  In 2015, Janice was unable to attend the UIA PHG Seminar due to ill health and Philip Patrick Sun was appointed to undertake the role of Honorary Secretary.

 

In 2018, an offer from Texas A&M University to provide a full-time secretariat for the UIA PHG was accepted and is now available to support the current and future members of the Public Health Group Executive in fulfilling the potential of this UIA Work Group. 

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Wooden Bookshelves
Old Study

The following places and topics reflect the activities of the UIA-PHG since its foundation in 1957:

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1957 Geneva Switzerland (IPHS)

Hospital Planning with Special Regard to Preventive and Reductive Medicine, to Hospital Care in Tropical Zones and to Town Planning

 

1959 Edinburgh Great Britain (IHC)

Efficiency Methods in the Hospital

 

1960 Moscow USSR (PHGM)

Teaching Hospitals; Spa Centres; Health Centres in Developing Countries 

 

1961 Venice Italy (IHC)

Changes in Hospital Planning and Construction; Changes in the Concepts of Patient Care

 

1962 Tel Aviv Israel (STVH)

Hospitals in Israel; Nursing Units

 

1963 Paris France (IHC)

The Design of Ward Units

 

1965 Stockholm Sweden  (IHC)

Recent Developments in the Design of Hospitals in Scandinavia; Planning and Building of Out-Patient Departments

 

1966 Athens Greece (IPHS)

Planning of Health and Hospital Care Facilities; The Role of the Architect in Programming, Planning and Design

 

1967 Prague CSSR (UIAC)

Medical and Architectural Aspects of Progressive Patient Care

 

1967 Chicago USA (IHC)

Equipping of Hospitals, Analysis of Space Requirement

 

1969 Düsseldorf Federal Republic of Germany (IHC)

Industrialized Building Methods and their Application in Building Hospitals

 

1970 Düsseldorf Federal Republic of Germany (IPHS)

Methods of Planning for Hospitals and other Health Care Facilities; Hospital of the Future

 

1971 Dublin Ireland (IHC)

Construction and Evaluation of Hospitals; Rationalization of Hospital Buildings

 

1972 Varna Bulgaria (UIAC) (AM)

Planning and Operation of Health and Hospital Care with Regard to Architecture and Leisure

 

1972 Prague CSSR (IPHS) (AM)

Survey of Health and Hospital Care Facilities in Europe

 

1973 Montreal Canada (IHC) (AM)

The Environment of the Hospital - Design, Control and Maintenance

1974 Nairobi Kenya (IPHS) (AM)

Planning and Building of Health Care Facilities under Conditions of Limited Resources

 

1975 Venice Italy (UIAC)

Analysis of Health and Hospital Building

 

1975 Zagreb Yugoslavia (IHC) (AM)

Review of the Considerations of the Nairobi Seminar 1974

 

1976 Copenhagen Denmark (STVH) (AM)

Hospitals in Denmark; National Activities in the Field of Hospital Care

 

1977 Tokyo Japan (IHC) (AM)

Modernization of Hospitals in Urban Areas

 

1978 Mexico City Mexico (UIAC) (AM)

Information and Collaboration in Health and Hospital Care with Regard to the Architect

 

1978 Manila Philippines (IPHS)

Emergency Care in Natural Disasters

 

1979 Oslo Norway (IHC) (AM)

Hospital Design - Integration of Engineering Services; Actual Problems in Planning, Building and Operation of Health and Hospital Care Facilities

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1980 Basle Switzerland (IPHS) (AM)

Planning, Building and Organization of Medical Research Facilities

 

1981 Warsaw Poland (UIAC) (AM)

Humanization of Health and Hospital Care Facilities; Disabled Man and his Environment

 

1981 Sydney Australia (IHC)

Energy Conservation; Hospitals and Disabled Persons

 

1983 Lausanne Switzerland (IHC) (AM)

Design of Hospitals Regarding Economy, Efficiency and Humanity

 

1984 Berlin Federal Republic of Germany (IBA)

Health Care and Hospital Care in Society

 

1984 Budapest Hungary (IPHS) (AM)

Health and Hospital Care's Heritage and Future

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1985 San Juan Puerto Rico (IHC)

Controlling Costs and Maintaining Quality

 

1985 Cairo Egypt (UIAC) (AM)

Architects in Health and Hospital Care - Experience and Perspectives

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1986 Tel Aviv Israel (IPHS) (AM)

Computer Assisted Planning and Operation of Health and Hospital Care Facilities

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1987 Helsinki Finland (IHC) (AM)

What Design for Hospitals and Health Centres of the Future?

 

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1987 Brighton Great Britain (UIAC)

Health in Building Tomorrow's World

 

1988 Havana Cuba (PRC)

Architecture for Health

 

1988 Moscow USSR (IPHS) (AM)

Analysis of Designing, Building and Maintaining of Health and Hospital Care Facilities in View of the WHO Strategy "Health for All by the Year 2000"

 

1988 Strasbourg France (PRC)

Achieving Better Living Conditions in Towns: Health and Architecture

 

1989 Rome Italy (PRC)

Experience and Findings of Architecture for Health -

Facing the Hospital of the Year 2000

 

1989 The Hague Netherlands (IHC)

The Built Environment for Curing and Caring

 

1990 Ottawa Canada (IPHS)

Guidelines on Programming and Design of Health and Hospital Care Facilities in Developing Countries. 

 

1990 Ottawa Canada (JC, AM,)

The Role of Architecture in Health Care – Year 2000 and Beyond

 

1990 Montreal/Canada (UIAC)

Architecture for Health: Architecture and Environment; Architecture and Aging

 

1990 Jerusalem/Israel (PRC)

Planning for an Aging Population

 

1991 Düsseldorf Germany (HC)

European Perspectives in Planning, Building and Operation of Hospitals

 

1991 Washington USA (IHC) (AM)

Planning, Design and Construction of Health Care Facilities: The Front Lines, Improving what we have, Design Innovations

 

1991 Maastricht Netherlands (HC)

Building a Hospital - Anticipating on Future Developments

 

1992 Buenos Aires Argentina (IPHS) (AM)

The Health Facilities in the Continuous Quality Improvement; Guidelines for Health Facilities Planning

 

1992 London Great Britain 1992 (PRC)

Emerging Approaches to Hospital Care and Hospital Architecture - Focusing on the Development in Europe

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1993 Madrid Spain (IHC)

New Science & New Systems: Their Impact on Health Facility Design

 

1993 Chicago USA (JC) (AM)

The Public Health System around the World; Healthcare on a Budget

 

1993 Chicago USA (UIAC)

Following the WHO request on "Health for All by the Year 2000"

 

1993 Hanover Germany (HC)

Planning Objectives for Existing Hospital Facilities

 

1993 Rome Italy (PRC)

Considerations and findings for Hospital Design, Planning and Building

 

1994 Lyon France (HC)

Hospital and the City

 

1994 Nuremberg Germany (HC)

Changing Use, Rebuilding and Maintenance of Hospitals

 

1994 Tokyo & Yokohama Japan (PRC) (AM)

Ideals and Realities: Design for Healing Environment

 

1995 Hanover Germany (HC)

Operational and Constructional Impact of the Shift in Functional Objectives

 

1995 Budapest Hungary (IHC) (AM)

Architecture for Health in an Era of Constraints

Celebrating 40 Years UIA-Public Health (UIA-PHG)

 

1996 Florence Italy (IPHS) (AM)

Continuing, Updating and Upgrading of Existing Health Care Facilities

 

1996 Nuremberg Germany (HC)

Composing of Health Centres

 

1996 Barcelona Spain (UIAC)

Architecture for Health and Hospitals in Cities

 

1997 Hanover Germany (HC) (IPHS) (AM) (BA)

Achievements and Efficiency of Health Care Facilities

in an Era of Limited Resources. Highly Sophisticated Medicine and its Consequences in Design and Planning

 

1997 Berlin Germany (STVH)

Charité, Weissensee, Neukölln, Reinickendorf, Lankwitz

 

1997 Melbourne Australia (HC) (STVH)

Innovations in Hospital Design

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 1998 Thessaloniki Greece (IPHS) (AM) (STVH)

Hospital Planning in an Era of Economy and Ecology

Health Care Facilities for a Changing Population

Health Promoting Hospitals - A Challenge for Architects

 

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1998 Berlin Germany (IBA)

Exhibition of Contemporary Hospital Projects

 

1999 Cairo Egypt (IPHS) (AM)

Planning, Design and Equipment of Hospitals for Developing Countries

 

1999 Copenhagen Denmark (HC)

Linking Hospitals to the Future

 

1999 Beijing China (UIAC)

Refurbishing Existing Hospitals

 

2000 Palma de Mallorca Spain (PRC)

Hospital Design for the 21. Century

 

2000 Stockholm Sweden (IPHS) (AM)

Health Promoting Hospitals, New Perspectives in the 21st Century. The Impact of Medical Technology on Healthcare Buildings

New Roles for Hospital Architects in the Future

 

2000 Vancouver Canada (JC)

Beyond 2000 

 

2000 Manama Bahrain (PCR)

 

2001 Manila Philippines (AM,IPHS,STVH)

Technologies and Trends in Developing and Developed Countries

 

2001 Hong Kong China (AM,HC,STVC)

Rebirth of Hospitals

 

2001 Volos Greece (JC)

Designing for the Elderly

 

2002 Frankfurt am Main & Berlin Germany (UIAC, IPHS, AM, STVH)

Architecture for Health

 

2003 San Francisco USA (IHC, STVH, AM. IPHS)

Masterplanning and Guidelines for Hospitals

 

2004 San Paulo Brazil

 

2005 Istanbul Turkey

The Hospital and the City

 

2006 Pretoria South Africa (PHCM, AM, STVH)

Designing for Sustainable Healthcare Facilities in Africa

 

2007 Beijing China (PHCM, AM, STVH)

The Architecture of Health Facilities in the coming 25 years

 

2008 Florence Italy (PHCM, AM, STVH, GUPHA)

The Culture for the Future of Healthcare Architecture

 

2009 Buenos Aires Argentina (PHCM, AM, STVH, GUPHA)

New trends in planning and process for the development of health facilities

 

2010 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

The Making of Affordable & Safe Healthcare Facilities for All

 

2011 Tokyo Japan

Safety and Security in Healthcare Environment 

 

2012 Oslo Norway 

New Ideas in Hospital Planning and Building Flexibility, Quality and Energy Efficiency.

 

2013 Toronto Canada (PHCM, AM, STVH, GUPHA)

The pursuit of better health and better healthcare design at lower costs per capita 

 

2014 Durban South Africa (PHCM, AM, STVH)

Healthcare Otherwhere

 

2015 Dalian China (PHCM, AM, STVH, GUPHA)

Health for All – Cultural, Populational, Operational & Technological Influences.

 

2016 Nairobi Kenya (PHCM, GUPHA)

Globalization of Health – Building Sustainable One-Health Communities to Overcome Grand Challenges in Global Health

 

2017 London United Kingdom (PHCM, AM, STVH)

Healing Environments 

 

2018 Paris France (PHCM, AM, STVH, GUPHA)

Design Architecture Technology Environment 

 

2019 Christchurch New Zealand (PHCM, AM, STVH)

Invest Innovate Inspire 

 

2020 Rio de Janeiro Brazil

 

_____________________

AM Annual Meeting (UIA-PHG)

IPHS International Public Health Seminar (UIA-PHG/IHF/WHO-DSHS)

IHC International Hospital Congress (IHF)

PHGM Meeting of the Public Health Group (UIA-PHG)

STVH Study Visits of Hospitals

UIAC International Architects Congress (UIA)

JC Joint Conference (UIA-PHG/AIA-CAH/RAIC-AHC)

GUPHA Meeting of Global University Programs in Healthcare Architecture

PRC Pan Regional Congress

HC Hospital Congress/Hospital Seminar

IBA/BA International Building Exhibition

Anchor 3

UIA

The UIA is a international non - governmental organisation, founded in Lausanne in 1948 to unite architects from all nations throughout the world, regardless of nationality, race, religion or architectural school of thought, within the federations of their national associations.


The UIA represents probably over a million architects throughout the world through their national architectural associations that form the UIA Member Sections.


The UIA is composed of almost 100 Member Sections which are the professional organisations most representative of architects in the world. Each Section functions independently at nthe ational level and acts as the liaison with the government, other member sections and the Union itself through a secretariat responsible for UIA affairs.


Member Sections contribute towards the economic and financial vitality of the Union through the payment of membership fees which constitute the essential recourses of the UIA.


Member Section are geographically divided into 5 regions:

Region I : Western Europe.
Region II : Middle East and Eastern Europe.
Section III : Americas.
Section IV : Asia and Australia.
Section V : Africa.

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In order to carry out its missions the UIA is structured to allow it to maintain contacts with professional organisations and their representatives, and to coordinate their professional relations at an international level, democratically and collegially.


This structure is made up of the:
 

Assembly

The Assembly is composed of delegations representing the Union Member Sections, of which it is the supreme legislative body. It convenes every three year to:
 

elect the members of the Bureau,
elect the members of the Council,
decide on the venue of the World Congresses of Architects,
ratify the admission of new Member Section,
define the Union triennial programme of activities,
vote on the UIA frame budget.

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Council

Is composed of four representatives from each of the five UIA Regions
 

​Bureau
Is composed of the President, the Past President, the Secretary General, the Treasurer and five Vice Presidents responsible for professional activities in their Region
 

General Secretariat

Is placed under the responsibility of the Secretary General and is the Union executive body and the administrative centre.


To carry out the mission of the UIA there are Working Bodies, divided in Commissions and Work Program Groups. Each Commission and Work Program Group has a director and members from the member countries.


The UIA-Public Health Group is one of those Work Program Groups.

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The headquarters of the UIA are situated in Paris.
More information on www.uia-architectes.org.

Image by Jay Mantri
Image by Alesia Kazantceva
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