Building a massive 124,000 m2 Nyt Hospital Nordsjælland hospital complex is a challenge for the real "sharks" of architecture. And, although the fight for the palm will last until March 2014 - then the jury will choose the winner, the projects of the three finalists already deserve our attention.
The site chosen for the construction is a former hunting area: a hilly landscape with the largest forest in the country and many small lakes. The task set before the architects combined many functional and aesthetic parameters, so the projects of the finalists are somewhat similar to each other: after all, all three dealt with a huge territory in which it was necessary to combine three now independent hospitals into a single complex that will serve the area with the population 312,000 people. The buildings had to be connected with the environment, and each of them had to be equipped with the most convenient access road. The hospital will be designed for 662 patients, and there will be only one-bed wards.
The team of the Danish workshop C. F. Møller included Ramboll, Søren Jensen, Rådgivende Ingeniørfirma, Cubo Architekter and TredjeNatur, as well as Alectia consulting engineers, Danish healthcare professionals. According to their project, the rather tall buildings of the hospital are immediately noticeable against the background of the landscape.
Here, as the jury noted, “pure functionality” is important: among nature, the largest hospital in the country unfolds as a whole city with everything necessary for both the patient and the doctor. The center of the complex should be a hall with two circular courtyards. At the level of the first floor, the buildings have annexes with vestibules, covered with curving roofs: their silhouette echoes the smooth lines of the surrounding hills.
BIG, WHR Architects, Arup, ArchiMED, Man Made Land and Topotek 1 aimed to create a "healing" space. Their complex consists of eight buildings, represented on the plan in the form of intersecting rings with courtyards.
The architects explain their choice of this particular form by the functional necessity: so from the window of each chamber it will be possible to admire the views of nature - the greened courtyard or the surrounding landscape, all the premises will be provided with sunlight, and the opportunity to go for a walk into the courtyard - into their "own" garden - will create conditions for people to communicate. Fresh air, beautiful landscapes and a positive attitude are faithful companions of recovery.
Hospital buildings have different heights, sometimes even dropping to the ground - depending on the relief. The flat roofs are planned to be greened, and the complex will almost merge with the natural environment. Overall, it's hard to imagine that WHR Architects, renowned for their daring designs and hospitals building worldwide, teamed up with prominent landscape architects, would not have made it to the final of this competition.
Something in between the two projects described above was proposed by Herzog & de Meuron in collaboration with Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects, Vogt Landschaftsarchitekten and consultants from the IBG Institut: these are two- and four-story buildings, inscribed in the landscape. In plan, the circular lines of the hospital complex look more like a simple living creature than a familiar building. This configuration allows, as in the BIG project, to provide the chambers with daylight.
The free intersection of the buildings forms the courtyards, and the roofs are landscaped. Commenting on the Herzog & de Meuron project, the jury noted that this is “a simple solution that fully meets the criteria of the task. … the buildings do not seem heavy, but through the connection with the surrounding landscape and courtyards and roof gardens, an aesthetically consistent space is formed."
It is important to note that, in addition to the tasks already listed, the competitors in their projects took into account the rather tight construction timeframe: it should be completed by 2020. The Danish government has already approved a project budget of 3.8 billion kroons (700 million USD).
The participants of the competition approached the work seriously: each team involved workshops specializing in the design of medical institutions, so they managed to avoid possible mistakes due to lack of experience. Now the finalists, who developed their ideas not without vanity (the plan for the construction of the hospital can really be called grandiose!), Have to finalize their work during the second round and wait for the jury's decision in March.
