AI-Care. Art, Identity and Care. The public spaces of Santa Maria Nuova hospital

This Notebook of the Library of Medicine and History, Arte, Identità e Cura. Gli spazi pubblici dell’ospedale di Santa Maria Nuova [Art, Identity and Care. The public spaces of Santa Maria Nuova hospital] contains the results of sig- nificant research conducted over the last two years, pro- moted by the Centro di Documentazione per la Storia del- l’Assistenza e della Sanità and carried out by the TESIS (Systems and Technology Center for health and training social structures) Centre of the Department of Architecture of Florence and the CVA (Centrum för Vårdens Arkitektur) Centre of the University of Chalmers (Sweden). The aim of this research was to assess the relationship between the hospital’s public spaces and users’ (patients, family members, staff ) perception of the environmental quality expressed in terms of pleasantness, restoration, identity and place attachment. The opportunity arose thanks to a long and significant event: the redevelopment of the hospital, which involved sys- tems, technologies, and diagnosis and treatment areas but also sought to return the various environments to their former glory, which now form the user routes and public spaces, with careful consideration (and restoration) of the inclusion of the works of art that characterise this magnificent building. The attention paid by the Centro di Documentazione per la Storia dell’Assistenza e della Sanità to the topics discussed herein is certainly not new and has various precedents, not only in texts illustrating the architecture of this hospital, but in particular promoting meetings and publications that discussed the relationship between art and care. The text presented here is therefore not just a reflection, albeit essential, on this set of problems based on studies conducted at international level, but through a careful in- vestigation it provides feedback obtained from fieldwork, with observations and questionnaires addressed to oper- ators, users and accompanying visitors. We considered it necessary to introduce the research with a description, albeit brief, of the hospital complex and the redevelopment process undertaken in the areas covered by the research, and with interviews with the de- signer and construction supervisor and the official of the Special Superintendence for the Museums and Historic and Artistic Heritage of the city of Florence, the area con- tact person for Santa Maria Nuova hospital. This research was not carried out in the diagnosis and care areas but in a public space of undeniable value and delicacy from an environmental, work and psychological related perspective.