Assessing the Impact of Indoor Environmental Quality on Occupant Well-being in Bahrain's Hospitals

The quality of the indoor environment has substantial impacts on occupant well-being and quality of life. Maintaining a positive indoor environment is particularly critical in complex architectural environments such as healthcare facilities. This paper adopts a mixed methodological approach to assess occupant well-being through architectural design and indoor environmental quality in one of Bahrain’s private hospitals. A total of 54 hospital occupants participated in an online questionnaire to understand their perception of the indoor environment quality and its impact on their well-being. On-site observations are conducted to analyze the current physical state of the hospital from an architectural point of view, and triangulate the results with the questionnaire results. The findings shed light on the importance of outdoor views and thermal comfort in enhancing occupant well-being. The results provide valuable insights to designers and stakeholders to improve the quality of life in hospitals in Bahrain, through design considerations related to the indoor environmental quality.