To perceive and create a building “as a living entity” with “senses and being made of systems, just like human beings”, is what enables Ivo Antão , engineer and administrator of Luz Saúde, to state that the Hospital da Luz building, in Lisbon, as it was conceived, “contributes decisively to the process of healing of patients”. This was one of the key-messages conveyed by the Luz Saúde Group administrator, in the debate organized by Expresso and Siemens , last May 14, on the future of infrastructures and the impact of digitalization on power networks, factories or large buildings such as hospitals. “Fifteen years ago, when we built the Hospital da Luz in Lisbon, we managed to get the support of Siemens to help us create a hospital like this. Today, even with the expansion of the building to almost the double, that vision remains”, he added. And gave examples of the digital transformations that were gradually introduced in the Hospital’s building and of what they have allowed, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and given the need to provide quick answers to a totally new and unexpected situation: the central system to control, even remotely, all networks that maintain the hospital running 24/7; the immediate response, at the level of premises, to the new needs of healthcare providing (negative or positive pressure with local control in compartments transformed into isolation rooms; accelerated increase of bed capacity in intensive care; real time monitoring of gas networks, etc.); and the response “in just a few hours” to the requests of the Ministry for Health, installing, for instance, an in-patient area for Hospital Fernando da Fonseca at Hospital da Luz, with the inherent adaptation of systems and devices of registration, control, and clinical answer; among others. Ivo Antão also pointed out other essential features that hospital buildings should be able to satisfy. “It is proven that natural light is essential for the healing process of patients, even in coma”. Therefore, not only the lighting system of Hospital da Luz Lisboa enables to control the intensity and color temperature bringing them as closer as possible to natural light, throughout the whole day, but also the intensive care units have direct entry of natural light , thus creating a real perception, for those hospitalized and those who work there, of the full cycle of day and night. The impact of digitalization and decarbonization on infrastructures was the main theme of this debate, where, besides the Luz Saúde administrator, were also present the Siemens CEO, Pedro Miranda, the Siemens Smart Infrastructure world sales responsible, Markus Mildner, the E-redes administration board member, Ângelo Sarmento, the Navigator Company corporate energy manager, Frederico Pisco, and the Secretary of State for Energy, João Galamba. All of them gave examples of the digital and energetic investment in infrastructure, in their respective companies, viewing to make them more “reliable, efficient and sustainable”, as mentioned by Markus Mildner. They also highlighted the importance of increasing the ability to anticipate constraints and failures , citing the example, besides the pandemic, of cyberattacks and natural disasters, which are ever more frequent.
