Restackable COVID-19 hospital takes two days to build

The hospital is made from shipping containers and uses an innovative air ventilation technique to prevent cross-contamination

Spotted: Rome wasn’t built in a day, but the Mungyeong NPI hospital in South Korea – the latest of Chinese prefab construction company Broad Sustainable Building’s efforts in the battle against coronavirus – will be built in two days.

In 2016, the company made headlines for the world’s fastest-built skyscraper – a 57-story erected in 19 working days. Now, it’s applying it’s sustainable, low-waste, and energy-efficient designs to tackle the coronavirus epidemic. 

Not only are the units stackable, meaning stories can be added later according to the hospital’s requirements, but the company has also developed an innovative air ventilation technique to ensure that contaminated air doesn’t escape each room. 

The “BROAD negative pressure fresh air system” uses Negative Pressure Isolation (NPI), a ventilation process based on generating negative pressure. Because air naturally flows from areas with higher pressure to areas with lower pressure, the system allows air to flow into isolated rooms, but not escape. This allows isolating patients with airborne contagious diseases such as COVID-19 to stay safe.

Unlike traditional methods, which take a lot of energy and rely on HEPA filters to recirculate the air, polluted air is vented outside after heat exchanging and ozone virus killing.

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