Hospitals

The hospital is conceived as a city­ in itself – a network of streets and squares provide short connections and informal gathering places, planted courtyards provide daylight and orientation. Modular structures combine efficiency with flexibility. A finely tuned spatial flow offers patients, visitors and staff varying degrees of privacy. Wherever possible, natural and sustainable materials such as wood are used to create an atmosphere of warmth. Our latest hospital projects on long-established clinic sites such as the UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center in San Francisco and the Universitätsspital in Basel, show how the healing environment can also take shape in vertical buildings. One of the central tasks is to integrate these large buildings into their urban environment; another is to design their masterplans in a way that accommodates the long-term development of these hospital complexes. Irrespective of the specific form, Herzog & de Meuron extend the concept of the hospital as a purely medical tool to include comfort and livability, creating a place of holistic healing.