A human scale mega project New North Zealand Hospital – designed by Herzog & de Meuron – will set new standards in healthcare design and healthcare delivery. With a modest four floors at its highest point, the hospital is designed on a very human scale despite its large size. The innovative, organic form of a four-leaf clover connects the many components of the hospital and ensures a feeling of safety as well as efficient flows. The architecture of the hospital thus supports the healing of each patient.Surrounded by nature Nature and daylight will be fully integrated into the building and reflect the healing atmosphere of the scenic surroundings. Conceptually, the landscape is conceived as a forest and the hospital as a pavilion. The landscape design takes its point of departure from the site’s moraine formations. In addition, the hospital will be the main statement of a new urban development area with a new infrastructure and new railway stations. The main narrative: A feeling of safety New North Zealand Hospital is based on a very strong idea – an archetypical circular form that both defines the hospital as an edifice and allows for the creation of an inner sanctum, symbolising the institution as a place whose main narrative is the feeling of safety. The scale of the architecture is downplayed to an expression, which – aesthetically and functionally – provides the building with a conceptual, non-monumental vocabulary. At once rational and irrational in its organic and amorphous design, the architecture has great character and originality.
The gardens: To support the healing of each patient the wards at the top levels will have a view over the surrounding landscape or a 24,000-m2 roof garden in the centre of the hospital. From the roof garden, the hospital is perceived as a two-storey complex. Strategically placed atriums connected to the roof garden will ensure daylight at all the lower levels of the hospital. Sustainability New North Zealand Hospital is based on social, economic and environmental sustainability and will be certified compliant to DGNB standards. The volumes of clean drinking water consumed at the hospital will be kept to a minimum, and rainwater will be collected in a sustainable manner and used to create an attractive outdoor environment. Groundwater cooling is incorporated into the cooling and heating system, and a special solution for wastewater purification is being developed whereby the hospital will purify all of its own wastewater to drinking water quality.
