The Anonymous Widower

The Spirit Of Renkioi Hospital Lives

Renkioi Hospital was the prefabricated hospital built for the Crimea.

I read the story of the hospital in L T C Rolt’s biography of the engineer; Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Wikipedia says this about how the hospital was designed.

In February 1855, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was invited by the Permanent Under Secretary at the War Office, Sir Benjamin Hawes (husband of his sister Sophia), to design a pre-fabricated hospital for use in the Crimea, that could be built in Britain and shipped out for speedy erection at still to be chosen site.

Brunel initially designed a unit ward to house 50 patients, 90 feet (27 m) long by 40 feet (12 m) wide, divided into two hospital wards. The design incorporated the necessities of hygiene: access to sanitation, ventilation, drainage, and even rudimentary temperature controls. These were then integrated within a 1,000 patient hospital layout, using 60 of the unit wards. The design took Brunel six days in total to complete.

Brunel didn’t hang about!

Let’s hope that the Nightingale hospitals are as successful, as Renkioi Hospital was in the Crimea.

March 28, 2020 - Posted by AnonW | Health | Brunel, COVID-19, Crimean War, Design, Florence Nightingale, Hospitals