Description

In recent years, patient rooms have increasingly been equipped with a supply point providing a gloves and disinfectant dispenser for clinic and nursing staff. These can take up more or less space, depending on requirements. The patient rooms at the University Hospital in Tübingen employ a particularly slimline integral solution that is immediately visible to staff entering the room but remains out of sight to patients lying in bed.

Since 2002, a|sh architekten have successively realised various building projects on the site of the University Hospital in Tübingen. The renovation of the Crona Clinic, which first opened in 1988 and derives its name from the German words for surgery, radiology, orthopaedics, neurology and anaesthesia, took a holistic approach and aimed to give the clinic a contemporary, more patient-friendly focus. The renovation of the “Wards of the Future” section of the building, which was completed in 2015, incorporated fire safety improvements and equipped the wards to meet future needs.

After the ward building was gutted, only the loadbearing walls and columns, the floor slabs, ceilings and the façades remained. The new floor plan for the star-shaped building incorporates more views of the outside world to assist orientation within the wards. Two wards were created, a standard care ward and a private healthcare patients’ ward, with a total of 44 beds, four of which are in single rooms. The nurses’ station is located at the centre, creating a link between the two wards. Its open design facilitates better communication between visitors, patients and staff.

A restrained colour scheme ensures a contemporary appearance. Different tones of blue create accents in the corridors and wall panelling, creating a sense of greater space. In the patient rooms, the shades of blue are complemented by warmer tones and wood decor, and abstract motifs of the city of Tübingen serve as graphical references to the location of the clinic.

Before renovation the bathrooms had a threshold, making barrier-free access impossible. The cupboard walls were also used to pass bed linen through to the ward corridor. Fire safety regulations made it necessary to revise this arrangement. Some slight changes and a redesigned bathroom created more space in the rooms. The new fitted furniture incorporates storage usable from the bathroom and from the room, creating a cleaner, tidier overall impression.

Instead of a separate workplace for staff near the entrance to the room, the glove dispenser, waste bin and disinfectant dispenser have been incorporated in a vertical slot in the wall that staff see as soon as they enter the room but is concealed by the wall from patients lying in bed. The low sill height of the windows also allows patients to enjoy the view out of the window from their beds.

The private healthcare patient rooms feature glass headboard panels behind the beds as well as other high-quality materials that further enhance the comfort and quality of the interiors.

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