Design strategies and health planning to improve the primary health care environment: a case study in Brazil

PurposeThe research outlined in this paper highlights the importance of certain factors related to primary health care buildings’ physical environment, such as the facility size, the functional efficiency, and the health planning of public areas in the health centers to improve the architectural space of health facilities.Design/methodology/approachThis study was performed using a mixed method. Data collection was carried out through observational research and descriptive analysis in six primary health care facilities in Salvador and Lauro de Freitas, Brazil.FindingsBased on this study’s results, facility capacity, functional efficiency and space accessibility have been considered the facilities’ main problems in the investigated context. The impact of the users’ perspective on healthcare facilities was assessed for each of these three criteria to verify the results obtained. Furthermore, most of the parameters were not satisfied, as the buildings analyzed had defects in their physical environment. Therefore, it is necessary to review and pay more attention to the architecture of these cities’ primary health care units.Originality/valueThe present study addresses the architectural environment design in Brazil’s healthcare facilities, which still have gaps. Improving the physical space of a health center ensures that the approach used in this research also applies to other health centers in similar contexts. The awareness that space’s activities and configurations will change according to each territory examined will open up so many investigation worlds.