|
Home
> What´s New > Press Releases Press Releases |
Highest demands on design and hygiene in London children's hospital: The planning specifications for the "Evelina Children's Hospital" which was opened in autumn 2005 in the heart of London were to build a hospital which does not remind of a hospital. For this reason, the local architecture firm of Hopkins Architects involved children in all design phases and created a building of light, warmth and colour with a design and access structure appropriate for children. A colour concept with figural motives which can be read on all floors thanks to various colour designs and kaleidoscope-like inlays serves the orientation in the new building with seven floors. Thus, almost 14,000m2 of wear-resistant nora rubber floorcoverings of Freudenberg Bausysteme KG , Weinheim, which meet the high demands of the hospital, were installed. Paediatric intensive care medicine under one roof With the new building of the Evelina hospital on the premises of the St. Thomas Hospital, the major part of the services of the children's wards of St. Thomas and the Guy's Hospital only a few kilometres away could be combined under one roof. The catchment area of the - for more than 100 years the first new - children's hospital in London with 140 beds, which a.o. specialises in heart and kidney diseases, covers the entire South-East of England. The principal of the hospital worth £ 60 mio. (approx. € 88.1 mio.) is the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust; it was financed through a participation of £ 50 mio. by both hospitals and the National Health Service of Great Britain contributed £ 10.0 mio.
Involvement of the children in the design The children's hospital located prominently south of the Thames river opposite of Big Ben was not only to offer the best possible medical management but was to be a place which focuses on the needs of the later users, of the partially seriously ill children and their parents, as well as on the management by skilled staff. Thus, Hopkins Architects, which were entrusted with the execution after having won a competition by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), integrated the ideas and proposals of an especially established committee consisting of young patients and local school children during the entire planning process. In line with the slogan "A hospital created by children for children", the team of Sir Michael Hopkins, who founded the internationally active architects firm 30 years ago, contrived to consider the wishes of the children without making compromises concerning the medical and technical requirements. The building The new hospital has a total area of 16,500m2 and stands on 300 concrete poles which are 24m in-ground. The characteristic features of the building are its glass façade and the arched glass roof above a central conservatory four floors high. This atrium already visible from afar is understood by the architects as the social heart of the children's hospital. The atrium houses a café, a gallery, space for performances as well as the well-visible school which is to encourage the children to participate. The conservatory orientated to the south is not only a central design element but also makes it possible to bring light and fresh air - through the partially natural ventilation - to several floors at the same time and to capture the green of the surroundings. Two bright red elevators subdivide the building in its 100m long West-East axis and form the central, vertical meeting zones. All ward facilities are located on the upper floors such that the children not only are able to observe from above what happens in the conservatory but also have an excellent view to the continuously changing skyline of London. Folding beds for the parents as well as all 120 ward beds and numerous spaces for playing and romping as well as for retreat and areas which can be used flexibly depending on medical need are further characteristics of the innovative children's hospital. The orientation system A key characteristic for the child-appropriate design of the hospital in optimum consistency with practical necessity is the concept for orientation and floor-marking. The cooperation with the children resulted in the decision to make the world of nature in its fresh, bright, and casual environment a major subject. Thus, each floor of the hospital was painted in its own colour, received its own name and a symbol from nature: Above the deep blue "Ocean" (fish), the first floor, there is the level of the white "Artic" (ice crystal) with the day hospital, cardiology, and other special wards. On the second floor, a green "forest" with leaf symbol, the operating theatres and the intensive care unit are located. Above the first bed ward on the "Beach" level (yellow snail), where the conservatory and the school are housed, two further levels extend in vertical direction: the "Savannah" (cactus) in ochre shades and the "mountains" in red. The star of the "Sky" represents the uppermost floor with the offices of the hospital management. Most floors are further divided into sub-units which are named after the animals of the corresponding habitat. The "Ocean" e.g. includes the wards whales, octopuses, dolphins, and fish; the "Savannah" camels and lizards, and in the "Mountains" birds and bears. This non-verbal orientation system is of particular help because the numerous patients and their parents from all over South East England and even from overseas speak approx. 140 languages and thus a more complex multi-language signposting could be avoided. Architects decide in favour of rubber floorcovering The consequent visualisation of the guidance system of colours and motives included a corresponding design of all floorcoverings on all floors accessible to the public. For this it was necessary to find a floorcovering which both met the design demands with regard to the comprehensive colour spectrum and the strict hygiene provisions of the hospital. The architects decided to use nora rubber floorcoverings of Freudenberg Bausysteme KG , Weinheim. Ken Hood, the project architect for the Evelina hospital, already cooperated with the English branch of the world-wide leading rubber floorcovering manufacturer in earlier building projects. "We tendered environmentally compatible products and thus rubber was a good choice." The floorcoverings were also installed using environmentally compatible, solvent-free adhesives. Apart from a few functional-related exceptions, nora floorcoverings must not be joint-sealed. This dimensional stability as well as the closed surface of the rubber sheets, which need no coating and are easy to clean, deliver hygienic and economic advantages from the installation to the long-term care and maintenance of the floorcovering. Floor inlays for design and floor-marking The design highlight and the highest technical demand on the 13,800m² of rubber floorcoverings in the Evelina hospital are presented by the inlays which are to reproduce the landscapes in the individual wards. According to Ken Hood, the design team of Hopkins Architects cooperated with the London artist Mary Evans who designed the kaleidoscope-like inlays. She conducted workshops with children from the existing St. Thomas hospital to develop the topics and colours for each floor as well as the figural symbols from the animal kingdom. As a result, three pairs of fish and dolphins seem to "talk" with each other on the "Ocean" floor while in the "Savannah" three pairs of lizards each form a heart symbol (see photographs). The floor design thus serves as functional floor-marking and at the same time emphasises the cheerful and warm atmosphere of the children's hospital. The British floor-layer firm of Tyndale Flooring Group, which cooperated closely with the manufacturer from the detail planning to the cutting and installation at the construction site, was responsible for laying the nora rubber floorcoverings. The inlays installed without any joints are as wear-resistant and dimensionally stable, permanently resilient, have excellent anti-slip properties and are economically to clean as are the rubber floorcoverings installed in sheets or tiles. The project architect, Ken Hood, concluded as follows based on the three-years of cooperation with regard to the children's hospital: "We would certainly use products from Freudenberg again - because rubber floorcoverings are natural products and have a long service life". He also complimented on the cooperation with the manufacturer and floor-layer which were always very helpful. "The floorcovering looks good", he stated several months after the official inauguration, "and it also obviously meets the demands of the hospital users". During a site visit at approximately the same time, the representatives of the principal also judged very positively with regard to the floorcovering which would be easy to clean, look like new and would possess remarkable anti-slip properties. It was obviously the floorcovering which led the Medical Director, Dr. Francis Flinter, to sum up: "This is a building full of fantasy, warmth and humour - and one which is equipped at the best for its task".
|
||
