Center for Surgical Medicine, University Hospital Düsseldorf

Cor Wagenaar, Noor Mens

Description

In the 1960s and 1970s, decades of unparalleled economic and demographic growth in Western Europe and the United States, numerous hospitals were built. Not only did they increase in number, their size also tended to grow. University hospitals especially developed into vast complexes, reflecting the ever-growing demand for doctors needed to staff the new facilities. As medical specializations multiplied and branched off, additional spaces were required to accommodate them. The University Hospital Düsseldorf is no exception. It sits on a vast terrain in the outskirts of the city and is made up of a number of large, separate buildings connected by a network of streets that has no inner logic and is entirely determined by the need to disclose the multitude of medical departments, the entrances of which do not respect the design of the public spaces between them, simply because design at this level is virtually non-existent. The new building combines surgery, neurosurgery, dermatology, and ophthalmology, replacing the facilities that housed these departments before. Characteristic of the building by Heinle, Wischer und Partner is its urban quality and the attempt to improve the overall organization of the complex by creating a new and clear traffic structure that, moreover, invites people to walk. The new clinic is situated in the center of the terrain and intended as its central hub. Located in a rectangular building of two layers that combines the diagnostic and treatment areas, an elongated central passageway dubbed ‘Magistrale’ runs from north to south through the entire facility, connecting the three inner patios as well as the various clinics and the outpatient facilities on the first floor. Occupying the full height of this volume on the eastside, it is separated from the outside world by a glazed façade that floods it with daylight. A cafeteria, a space for contemplation and a kiosk offer patients, visitors and staff some diversion.

The ground floor of the southern part of the building is reserved for the emergency department; the helipad on top of the building has direct access to this department, and the entrance for ambulances is situated next to it. Nearby is the intensive care unit with fast connections to the surgery department as well as to the spaces for Röntgen imaging. Reminiscent of the classical hospital typology of the matchbox-on-a-muffin, better known as Breitfuß, the patient wards are located on top of the diagnosis and treatment areas in the low-rise, flat building below. Instead of one very high volume, four bars are situated on top of it, cantilevering several meters out of the Magistrale and the façade on the opposite side. Two of these bars have two stories, the other three. The floors of the four bars project outwards, the white, horizontal bands producing the building’s characteristic visual qualities. The wards are designed according to the double corridor model: rooms face either south or north; the space between the two corridors accommodates storage, nursing stations and services. Every nursing station is subdivided in two clusters of 16 beds in rooms with two beds each; apart from that, a limited number of single bedrooms has been included. In the bar volumes with three floors, the lower one accommodates the specialist outpatient departments of the dermatology clinic and spaces for physical therapy, respectively.

Sustainability is an important aspect of the design. The building uses geothermal energy, and the low-rise volume has a green roof. A leading design criterion was the abundant provision of daylight. The glass wall of the Magistrale guarantees that it penetrates the building from this side, the patios provide it from within, and the operating rooms have daylight as well. For the transportation of all kinds of materials, a separate traffic circuit with automated carts has been provided.