Description

Despite its considerable size, the design concept for the AZ Zeno in Knocke-Heist is applied consistently at all scales, from the building to the patient rooms to every last detail of the fittings. The architects have achieved a good balance between modern appearance and the impression of clinical cleanliness.

The new building for the AZ Zeno (AZ is the abbreviation for “algemeen ziekenhuis”, or general hospital) with its organic building form is the product of a collaboration between three Belgian architectural offices – AAPROG, Boeckx and B2Ai – who together won the competition for its design in 2007. Opened in 2018, the new hospital building comprises a rehabilitation centre, nursing wards with a total of 270 beds, an outpatient clinic, lecture halls, event areas and a helicopter landing pad.

The building’s design needed to meet the requirements of a modern, sustainable, forward-looking hospital while respecting the rural character of its surroundings. Raised off the ground and enveloped in a curved exterior, the three-storey and four-wing volume has the futuristic appearance of a floating object that has alighted nimbly on the existing landscape. Three of the wings house patient rooms with views out over the dunes while the fourth facing the road and parking areas contains the medical facilities. A 600 m² roof garden on the second floor can be reached from the cafeteria.

All transitions between inside and outside and between the wards and public areas within the building are fluid. Warm colours, bright daylight and art in the interiors create a homely environment for the patients.

The design of the patients’ rooms is simple and restrained. In addition to a regular door, a movable panel in the single rooms can be slid to one side to provide direct access to the patient bathroom. It also acts as a room divider, closing off the entrance area from the room when more privacy is required. The split two-panel door – with separate upper and lower opening sections – was especially conceived for the geriatric wards to allow patients to feel connected and in contact with people in the ward corridor when in their room. A particularly space-saving solution is the fold-out bed for relatives to stay overnight incorporated into the fitted wall cupboards.

Instead of the desk in the single rooms, the two-bed rooms have two rounded shelves for placing pictures and greeting cards as well as a shared table. In the bathroom, all components, including the polycarbonate swinging shower partitions, are wall-mounted to avoid contact with the floor, preventing colonisation with germs and making it easier to clean the floors. The bathroom flooring in bright colours such as green or violet contrasts with the otherwise white rooms. The bathrooms in the two-bed rooms have two washbasins, one for each patient.

The solid oak window frames harmonise with the wood-effect flooring in the rooms and some surfaces, such as the sliding door panels, are printed with photographic motifs. The interior design aims to create a calm and comfortable atmosphere for the patients so that the clinical functions recede into the background.

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Originally published in: Wolfgang Sunder, Julia Moellmann, Oliver Zeise, Lukas Adrian Jurk, The Patient Room, Birkhäuser, 2020.