A Review to Innovative Ventilation Techniques Used in Historical Hospitals in Middle East and Europe

Historically, natural ventilation has been an important factor to achieve thermal comfort and reduce energy consumption in healthcare buildings. Since the recent century, there has been an increasing change and scientific advancement that led to the reliance of mechanical ventilation systems in commercial buildings and especially in hospitals and healthcare settings. However, the fully mechanical system approaches have changed gradually after global warming and the lack of energy sources. In this context, this study investigated systematically, passive ventilation techniques used in medieval near eastern hospitals ”Bimaristans” and historical hospitals in Europe. The study traced the roots of natural ventilation in a sample of historical healthcare buildings. It also investigated ventilation techniques used in historical hospitals in Middle East and Europe. This study is looking forward to discover the architectural design parameters’ effects of historical hospitals on ventilation, to make a better environment for patients’ health by learning from past lessons in traditional architecture, and how could we adapt these techniques in our nowadays healthcare buildings. This step will allow further research on the adaption and integration of passive techniques inherited from the past in our contemporary hospital design