HOLISTIC HOSPITAL LANDSCAPES

Herzog & de Meuron is set to start construction work on its first building in Zurich after plans were approved for a 200-bed children’s hospital. The project, named Kinderspital Zürich or Children’s Hospital Zurich, will be the largest in Switzerland for both inpatient and outpatient care of children and adolescents.

Herzog & de Meuron’s design for Kinderspital Zürich consists of two buildings: the relatively low-lying hospital and a neighbouring research centre. Unlike conventional hospital buildings, where patients are often bounced back and forth among various departments, the layout of the hospital follows an urban grid where departments correspond to ‘neighbourhoods’ and each floor has a main street.

“The large horizontal shape of the hospital defines the holistic nature of the building, characterised from inside out by a delicacy of material detail,” says the design team.

Meanwhile, internal courtyards not only provide daylight, but also structure the right-angled layout of the rooms. The ground floor — the hospital’s most public zone — accommodates the main facilities for examination and treatment as well as an emergency room, intensive care and operating rooms all interspaced with several public courtyards.Arranged in a ring structure oriented towards the outside, the rooms have been designed like small houses that offer both privacy and pleasant external views.

“The facade of the hospital is a weave of various materials,” explains Herzog & de Meuron. “The primary, repetitive concrete framework is part of the support structure and resembles shelves usable at both ends that bracket the first and second floors.” This configuration allows the framework to be filled with a range of different surfaces (including wood, glass, fabric, or plants) to meet the daylight and privacy needs of each room.

To the north, the site’s research centre contains rooms for university hospital uses within a cylindrical, white structure. Internally, a five-story-high atrium provides a central space for researchers. Below, an agora for teaching can be configured to suit a wide variety of programs.

Construction work on site is set to start in spring 2018, with a planned completion date scheduled for 2022.

Images © Herzog & de Meuron