A Comparative Study on the Patient Behavior of Corridor Space on the Ward in General Hospital in Korea - Focused on the Courtyard and Double-loaded Corridor type -

국내 종합병원 병동부 복도공간의 환자 이용행태에 관한 비교 연구 - 중정형과 중복도형을 중심으로 -

The conventional corridor space was a functional space simply linking the rooms and facilitating the circulations in a hospital. Today, however, they are no longer the spaces for simple circulation. Now, they are changing into healing spaces. Healing space must have some spatial characteristics helpful to curing the patients, and therefore, such a space should be designed to encourage patients to have diverse experiences and behaviors in terms of psychological stability, rehabilitation and personal communication. With such basic conceptions in mind, this study was aimed at surveying and analyzing patients' behaviors of using the corridor spaces for general hospital wards. To this end, middle corridors and patio-type side corridors for general hospital wards in Korea were sampled. It was found through this study that various healing behaviors shown in the conventional middle corridors were witnessed in the patio-type side corridors. On the other hand, behavioral characteristics of each area were analyzed to determine the factors encouraging patients to be cured, and thereupon, some design points for the corridor spaces of general hospital wards were suggested to help their users quick recovering.