Description

This room type with two beds placed at right angles to the façade is comparatively rare due to the large room width it entails. It is, however, particularly beneficial for patients who are confined to their bed for most of their stay. Both patients benefit from the same outlook towards the window, the same proximity to the door and more favourable lighting thanks to the room’s advantageous proportions.

The existing building of the Geriatric Clinic was built in 1980 by Bärlocher & Unger as an addition to St Gallen’s Bürgerspital, an ensemble from the 19th and 20th century. The site comprises three buildings that together constitute the Kompetenzzentrum Gesundheit und Alter (competence centre health and age) in St Gallen. To ensure the continued operation of the Geriatric Clinic during the renovation and extension works, a temporary structure was built that is to be dismantled later.

The extension adds a new layer of rooms along the entire north face of the building, maintaining the urban figure of the building as well as the linear building line of the Bürgerspital ensemble. The result is a rational arrangement of three parallel spatial layers in which the new rooms augment the existing operational organisation of the building. The façade of the new north wing picks up aspects of the existing building, incorporating the horizontal strip windows and concrete cladding of the south side. At the same time, sheet metal profiles were inserted between the concrete bands and glazing on both the north and south façades, which along with slender window frames, gives the whole a sleek, modern appearance.

The geriatric ward treats elderly patients who frequently suffer from multiple conditions and need special support. The intention of the treatment is to enable patients to lead a largely independent life after their stay in hospital. With advancing old age, many people are unsettled by changes to their life situation. The design of the patient rooms, including the arrangement of the beds and the equipment, therefore strives to create a calm and peaceful environment for the patients. The ancillary spaces and nurses’ stations are accessible from two sides, on the one hand ensuring the shortest direct path from carer to patient, and on the other forming a ring that allows patients with an urge to move to circulate within the ward.

The patient rooms in the newly added layer of rooms are comparatively wide and shallow in depth. The windows run along the entire breadth of the room, heightening its sense of spaciousness, while the back of the room behind the beds is lined with cupboards that conceal and incorporate technical equipment and provide storage for use by the patients and nurses. The entrance is located in the middle of the cupboards, dividing the room into two patient areas. The generous distance between the patients allows the space between to serve as a communal area and it can also be used as a dining area.

The arrangement of the beds at right angles to the corridor and window, along with the low sill height, affords patients an expansive view of the surroundings from their beds over the entire width of the room.

The bathroom is likewise of a generous size and is reached via a transitional zone with a washbasin alongside the window which is separated from the rest of the room. Patients can use this sheltered space to wash and dress out of direct sight but not within the bathroom. The warm tone of the oak windows and wall units, the dark red of the linoleum floor and the light colours of the walls aim to create a welcoming, restful character in which the medicinal aspects 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.