AZ Groeninge General Hospital

Cor Wagenaar, Noor Mens

Description

For the Belgian city of Kortrijk, Dietmar Eberle of the renowned firm Baumschlager Eberle Architekten designed a hospital that replaced four existing facilities. Therefore, not surprisingly, its most distinguishing feature is its enormous scale: it has the dimensions and the complexity of a small city. It occupies a site of 15 hectares; the total length of the façade is no less than 1.5 km, a consequence of the decision to design a low-rise complex of only three floors. Obviously, a building this size could not possibly be integrated in the historical urban tissue of Kortrijk, and even in the peripheral site it now occupies it is bound to ignore its physical context: a park-like landscape alternating with business parks and logistical facilities located near the network of highways that marks the border region with France. Acknowledging that a large-scale structure like this can best be designed as a uniform, introverted complex, Eberle, winner of a competition held in 1999, opted for a grand architectural gesture, a striking landmark that is going to be realized in two phases. Tom Guthknecht assisted in defining the internal distribution of the medical functions and their spatial relations. The layout comprises four volumes fanning outward from a central part that accommodates the hot floor. These four outer wings and the central part each enclose a courtyard. The entrance is situated between two wings; facing south, it leads to a two-storied hall that is to act as the building’s central traffic node. Since the central wing contains the hot floor, most people entering the building here have to be diverted around it. The main traffic routes have been designed as elongated corridors, most of which are placed in the center of the wings. Daylight is provided by relatively small interior public spaces that face either one of the courtyards or the landscape outside the building. Contrary to what one might expect in a hospital as vast as Groeninge, public facilities such as shops and restaurants have been kept within bounds. The overriding quality of the hospital is that of a contemplative environment reminiscent, in that respect, of medieval monasteries with their enclosed monastic gardens. The most conspicuous aspect of the architectural design is the façade. It is characterized by the use of uniform load-bearing concrete elements, oriented in such a fashion that excessive direct sunlight is prevented in the interior. Consequently, the functional configuration is not apparent from the exterior, the overall impression being that of a monolithic concrete sculpture. In the second phase, 2012-2017, 77,663 m² and 675 beds were added.