The Wilhelmina Children's Hospital is a top independent clinical hospital where seriously ill children are treated when other hospitals in the Netherlands are unable to properly treat them. The hospital is part of the University Medical Center Utrecht. Both buildings are connected by a tunnel. However, the Wilhelmina Children's Hospital has its own identity and character – both organisationally and physically.
The complex consists of three floors and each floor is different in form, material and colour. When designing this complex, child friendliness was an important principle:in the Wilhelmina Children's Hospital every child is first of all a child.. That is why the hospital designs included a hospital café, a roof garden and a school room. The main hall was designed as if directly out of the imagination of a child with a tilted ice ceiling, a forest of slanting pillars that support a hanging garden and a copper structure shaped like the submarine Captain Nemo.
Adults are also treated in the Wilhelmina Children's hospital: expectant mothers have their own department of Obstetrics and there is an extensive Psychiatry section where parents are also welcome. Located on the roof level of the central hall is the Ronald McDonald House, where families of sick children can retreat and just be with each other.
In short, the Wilhelmina Children's Hospital is a safe haven for the most vulnerable children, where professional care is offered in a warm environment where even adults feel at home.
