Modern healthcare facilities are expected to do more than provide advanced medical treatment. They must also create safe, comfortable, energy-efficient, and environmentally responsible environments for patients, healthcare professionals, and visitors.
A notable example in Indonesia is RS Kanker Dharmais, the National Cancer Center in Jakarta.
The hospital's development provides an interesting case study of how sustainability can be integrated into modern healthcare infrastructure. In particular, its new Women and Children Cancer Center demonstrates how green building principles can be incorporated into a highly specialized healthcare environment.
RS Kanker Dharmais: From Cancer Center to Smart and Green Hospital
RS Kanker Dharmais serves as Indonesia's National Cancer Center and is a specialized Class A hospital under the Ministry of Health. Its original hospital complex was developed in the early 1990s, with construction beginning in 1991 and the hospital officially opening in 1993.
As demand for cancer services increased and medical technology continued to advance, the hospital required additional infrastructure.
One of the most significant developments was the construction of the Women and Children Cancer Center, also known as Tower C or Gedung Cendana.
The new building was inaugurated in August 2024. With approximately 37,918 square meters of floor area, 18 floors, and three basement levels, the facility was designed as a modern healthcare building incorporating the concept of a Smart and Green Hospital.
The facility includes 100 inpatient beds, 25 isolation beds, four operating rooms, one hybrid operating room, and 23 intensive-care beds covering ICU, PICU, PACU, and HCU functions. It also houses advanced cancer-treatment technologies and specialized clinical services.
This combination of advanced medical technology and green building principles makes Tower C an interesting reference for the future of healthcare construction in Indonesia.
Green Building Certification as a Performance Framework
The sustainability strategy of Tower C is not merely a design statement.
According to RS Kanker Dharmais, Tower C received GREENSHIP New Building V1.2 Gold certification from the Green Building Council Indonesia (GBCI). The hospital has also reported that the building was verified as a Bangunan Gedung Hijau (BGH) with an Utama rating, the highest rating in the implementation-stage assessment referenced by the hospital.
These achievements are significant because they indicate that sustainability was considered as part of the building's broader performance rather than treated simply as an architectural aesthetic.
For a healthcare facility, this distinction is particularly important.
A green hospital must continue to function effectively under demanding operational conditions. It must accommodate medical equipment, maintain appropriate indoor conditions, support infection-control requirements, provide patient comfort, and operate continuously—while also managing energy, water, materials, and environmental impacts.
Why Material Selection Matters in a Green Hospital
Building materials represent a significant part of the environmental and operational performance of a healthcare facility.
The selection of wall systems, insulation, flooring, ceilings, glazing, finishes, doors, and other building components can influence:
- Energy consumption;
- Thermal comfort;
- Acoustic performance;
- Indoor air quality;
- Fire safety;
- Durability;
- Maintenance requirements;
- Construction waste; and
- Long-term operating costs.
This means that sustainable material selection cannot be reduced to choosing products labeled as “eco-friendly.”
A more meaningful question is:
How does a material contribute to the overall performance of the healthcare building throughout its life cycle?
This is particularly relevant to a facility such as Tower C, where sustainability must coexist with demanding healthcare requirements.
1. Materials and Energy Efficiency
Healthcare facilities operate differently from ordinary commercial buildings.
Many hospital functions operate continuously, and areas such as patient rooms, operating rooms, laboratories, treatment areas, and intensive-care units require carefully controlled indoor conditions.
The building envelope therefore becomes an important component of energy performance.
Materials used in walls, roofs, windows, and other envelope systems can influence the amount of heat transferred into and out of the building.
High-performance materials and assemblies can help control unwanted heat transfer and reduce the thermal load placed on HVAC systems.
From a material-selection perspective, relevant parameters may include:
- Thermal conductivity;
- Thermal resistance;
- Thermal transmittance;
- Solar heat gain;
- Air leakage; and
- Moisture performance.
The important consideration is not simply the thermal performance of an individual product, but the performance of the complete building envelope system.
2. Materials and Indoor Environmental Quality
Healthcare environments require careful attention to indoor environmental quality.
Patients may spend extended periods inside the facility, while healthcare professionals may spend most of their working day there.
Material selection can therefore influence indoor environmental conditions through factors such as emissions, surface characteristics, thermal performance, and acoustic behavior.
Low-emission materials can help support healthier indoor environments, while appropriate finishes can facilitate cleaning and maintenance.
In a healthcare environment, however, these characteristics must be balanced against other requirements such as durability, hygiene, fire performance, and resistance to cleaning chemicals.
The most sustainable material is not necessarily the material with the lowest environmental impact at the manufacturing stage.
It may be the material that provides the best overall life-cycle performance.
3. Acoustic Performance as Part of Patient-Centered Design
Noise control is another important consideration in healthcare facilities.
Patients require environments that allow them to rest and recover, while healthcare professionals need spaces that support communication and concentration.
The material selection strategy can therefore include systems that improve:
- Sound insulation between rooms;
- Speech privacy;
- Sound absorption;
- Impact-noise control; and
- Mechanical-noise control.
For example, wall and partition systems can be designed to provide appropriate acoustic separation between patient rooms, consultation rooms, treatment areas, and corridors.
Again, the performance of the entire assembly is critical.
A high-performance acoustic material cannot compensate for weak points such as poorly sealed joints, doors, glazing, or mechanical penetrations.
This is why acoustic performance should be evaluated as part of the building system rather than as an isolated material specification.
4. Durability and Maintenance
Healthcare facilities are high-use environments.
Walls, floors, ceilings, doors, and finishes can experience frequent contact, cleaning, disinfection, and maintenance activities.
A material that requires frequent replacement can generate additional waste, increase maintenance costs, and disrupt hospital operations.
For this reason, durability is an important part of sustainable material selection.
The evaluation should consider:
Initial cost → Installation → Maintenance → Repair → Replacement → End of life
This life-cycle approach can produce very different conclusions from simply comparing the initial purchase price of two materials.
A material with a higher initial cost may potentially provide greater value if it lasts longer, requires less maintenance, and maintains its performance throughout the building's operational life.
5. Water and Resource Efficiency
Sustainability in a hospital extends beyond energy and materials.
RS Kanker Dharmais has also documented initiatives focused on water management. In a 2025 sustainability-related submission, the hospital described the use of rainwater treatment and greywater treatment systems as part of its efforts to manage water resources, reduce dependence on groundwater, and potentially lower clean-water costs.
This illustrates an important principle of green healthcare design:
Building sustainability is a system.
Material selection, energy efficiency, water management, waste management, indoor environmental quality, and building operations cannot be considered completely independently.
6. Materials Should Support Multiple Performance Objectives
One of the most effective approaches to sustainable material selection is to identify materials and building systems capable of contributing to several performance objectives simultaneously.
For example, a high-performance wall system may potentially provide:
Thermal Insulation
↓
Reduced unwanted heat transfer
Acoustic Insulation
↓
Improved privacy and acoustic comfort
Fire Performance
↓
Improved building safety
Durability
↓
Reduced replacement and maintenance
Resource Efficiency
↓
Lower life-cycle environmental impact
This is particularly valuable in healthcare projects, where every building component must often satisfy multiple technical requirements.
What Can We Learn from the Dharmais Case?
The most important lesson from the RS Kanker Dharmais development is not that a particular material should be copied.
Instead, the case demonstrates the value of approaching healthcare construction as an integrated building-performance challenge.
The new Tower C combines advanced healthcare functions with a documented green building strategy. The hospital has subsequently continued to develop its green hospital program, including knowledge-sharing and training on green building implementation, testing and commissioning, green operations and maintenance, energy efficiency, and environmental management.
This suggests a broader model for future healthcare projects:
Design for Performance
Define the required environmental, thermal, acoustic, fire, hygiene, and operational performance before selecting materials.
Select Materials Based on Evidence
Use measurable technical data and laboratory testing rather than relying solely on marketing claims.
Evaluate the Complete Assembly
Consider the performance of walls, floors, ceilings, roofs, windows, and other systems as complete assemblies.
Consider the Life Cycle
Evaluate not only initial cost, but also installation, energy consumption, maintenance, durability, replacement, and end-of-life impacts.
Integrate Sustainability with Healthcare Requirements
A green material is only useful if it also meets the demanding requirements of a healthcare environment.
A New Standard for Healthcare Construction
The evolution of RS Kanker Dharmais illustrates an important shift in healthcare infrastructure.
The modern hospital is no longer simply a structure that contains medical equipment.
It is an integrated environment for healing, technology, people, and sustainability.
This requires a different approach to material selection.
Instead of asking:
“Is this material environmentally friendly?”
the project team should ask:
“How does this material help the building perform better?”
That question leads to a more comprehensive evaluation of thermal performance, acoustic performance, fire safety, durability, indoor environmental quality, resource efficiency, and life-cycle cost.
Conclusion
The development of the new Women and Children Cancer Center at RS Kanker Dharmais demonstrates how sustainability can become part of the strategic development of modern healthcare infrastructure.
The building was developed as a Smart and Green Hospital, has received GREENSHIP New Building V1.2 Gold, and has subsequently been reported by the hospital as achieving an Utama rating under the Bangunan Gedung Hijau assessment at the implementation stage.
For material manufacturers, architects, consultants, contractors, and healthcare developers, the case provides an important lesson:
Sustainable material selection is not about choosing the “greenest” product. It is about selecting materials that deliver measurable performance while supporting the health, safety, efficiency, durability, and environmental objectives of the entire healthcare facility.
This is ultimately the foundation of a high-performance healthcare building—a building that performs better not only for the environment, but also for the patients, healthcare professionals, and communities it serves.