Perkins Eastman completed a welcoming and bright environment for the Aastrika Midwifery Centre in Bengaluru, India.

Transforming the birthing experience for the better, Aastrika Midwifery Centre is an evidenced-based birthing center in Bangalore, India designed to promote natural births and steer mothers-to-be away from Cesareans. Perkins Eastman was commissioned to do the programming, planning, interior design, and execution of the 5,300 sf healthcare center. Set within the existing Vasavi Hospital, Aastrika Midwifery Centre is the first clinic in India to feature specialized Denmark-inspired “Sensory Technology” in the labor and delivery rooms. Specific combinations of the audiovisual stimulation and specialty dimmable lighting have a documented calming effect on the otherwise clinical space, creating a sense of well-being and an overall comforting and supportive birthing experience. The dynamic lighting and audiovisuals also help release oxytocin, a hormone responsible for signaling contractions and inducing natural labor.

With both outpatient and inpatient care, the design of Aastrika provides continuous support to a mother-to-be during her pregnancy. The birthing suite comprises two Labor and Delivery rooms and three Antepartum/Post-Partum rooms with expansion capability. While the design focuses on the patient’s well-being, it also promotes optimal staff efficiency. Quick access to call rooms, collaborative spaces, nourishment areas, and break rooms have all been carefully considered in the layout of the center. Designed to promote an active labor, the private birthing suite features a hallway that is designed as an early labor lounge, encouraging the mother to ambulate while in labor while featuring areas of respite and nourishment along the way.

The Labor and Delivery room is unlike any other clinical space in the birthing suite. Designed to reduce stress, maintain an active birthing environment, and improve the overall patient satisfaction, the spacious room has exercise equipment, like a birthing ball and a ceiling-mounted rebozo, or birth rope, to support and encourage the mother through natural labor. A birthing pool is provided to give the mother the option of a water birth or, alternatively, water immersion, which is known to provide pain relief during labor. Designed to be larger than industry standard, the Labor and Delivery rooms support the mother-to-be through all stages of labor.

The innovative birthing clinic is the first of many set to be built in Bangalore, India.

Design: Perkins Eastman
Contractor: Vaibhav Inter Decor
Photography: Copyright Shamanth Patil | Courtesy Perkins Eastman