May | 2013 | Dutch Hospital Design

Concept

The phase in which a comprehensive concept takes shape is probably the most important of all. A powerful concept determines the development of the design. What’s more, a comprehensive concept incorporates future scenarios.

Design concepts

But the concept is not yet a design; it simply charts how the design will take shape. Work and ICT concepts describe how the hospital organization will function; building concepts shed light on the spatial integration and flexibility; and technical concepts show how to make the most of sustainability possibilities.

Here, too, computer models support the dialogue between you and our designers. With the analysis and comprehensive concept completed, Dutch Hospital Design is now ready to start designing.

Design

Dutch Hospital Design can only create a fully integral design by working with all the disciplines involved on an equal basis and with a shared aim. Finding the perfect combination of functionality, beauty and sustainability is a creative and inspiring process.

The building’s occupant, the client, is a key figure in that process and plays an active role within the team. Dutch Hospital Design bases the functional design for the hospital on the elaborated work and ICT concepts. And we achieve the most beautiful architectural results by working in an entirely open and equal way.

The design is fully accessible in a 3D Building Information Model (BIM) so that the hospital design is visible right down to the details. Future occupants can already ‘walk’ through the building and test its functionality before the first brick is even laid! These high-quality computer models also enable Dutch Hospital Design to predict energy and material consumption in advance and to simulate the effects of changes in the way of working or provision of care. Finally, this process also sheds plenty of light on how we can safeguard the findings of the analysis and concepts during the design.

Engineering

The most detailed interaction between the disciplines and the hospital itself takes place during the engineering phase. All details harmonize with one another in a clear and precise manner so that the contractors can build them easily.

Hospital engineering

For a truly sustainable and flexible building, we translate the strategy into the right choice of materials and components. Dutch Hospital Design visualizes not only all information concerning the building, but also the entire interior. We compile a Medical and Technical Handbook to document all equipment needed in the hospital. That ensures all supporting technology is perfectly installed to work without any problems.

With all this information entered in the virtual BIM model, we chart every element in this highly complex building and make it available for the phase of use and occupancy. During this phase we collaborate very intensively with local parties to make sure that the construction in the next phase proceeds smoothly and efficiently.

Construction

There’s something magical about construction. And particularly the construction of large, complex projects that involve a big collective, intensive effort. But this magic must be steered in the right direction.

Hospital construction

After all, this is the phase that involves the biggest number of people. Good preparations and streamlined communications form the basis for the smooth and speedy progress of construction. You can see that in the final result, and you will enjoy the benefits for years. It is abundantly clear that BIM can play a key role in this. Various other calculation models help Dutch Hospital Design to manage time, money and quality. Even in this phase, the concept still plays a role: decisions taken during construction impact strongly on the success of the conceptual plan for the building.

Hospital construction project management

Other aspects such as ICT, facility management and the medical layout also take shape during this phase. In partnership with the contractors, the construction of the building and its surroundings pave the way for the most important phase of the building: its use by occupants.

Use and maintenance

The work isn’t done when the hospital opens. After all, that’s the start of a long period in which the design is tested in reality. Logistics and all ICT must function smoothly, and services have to work properly. A facility management system may be needed. The building is like a machine that works the way it was designed. And this machine needs proper, planned maintenance. A building manual helps.

Dutch Hospital Design foresees the need to anticipate alterations because of the time between analysis and construction. Such alterations are no problem because the system can easily adapt. Dutch Hospital Design can accompany and advise you throughout this interesting period of operation.

Read our references or view our projects >

Next generation

In thinking about a new hospital, Dutch Hospital Design is very aware that it will be used by the next generation. That is why we conceive many future scenarios, and the new building must accommodate them all. In view of its calculated lifespan, the design of a Next Generation Hospital must take the next generation into account. After all, the building is geared to next generation occupants with a next generation mentality.

That can only be achieved if we focus on the future. But the future is hard to predict, especially in a time of accelerated change. The answer must be a future-proof building. It must be sustainable, smart, flexible, high-quality and supported by ICT. And of course it must be a building that is a pleasure to work and stay in.

Next generation hospital

To create such a building, Dutch Hospital Design seeks a high level of ICT support. Various computer and simulation models facilitate process and construction innovation. We begin by defining the working procedures in the hospital and end with the facility management of the building through ICT. The help of a Building Information Model (BIM) plays a determinative role here. It not only contributes to a high level of spatial insight into the building but also supports all sorts of decisions about investment and operating costs, energy, logistics and so on.

With over ten years experience using BIM, we are among the leaders in the field in Europe.

Architecture

We view architectural design as a search for the potential beauty contained within the commission. The way in which we conduct this search is very important for us. We do it through extensive analysis and its conceptual translation into a design. That means it is solidly grounded, and every spatial problem leads by definition to a particular spatial solution.

Architectural design for hospitals

The power lies in systematic and analytic thinking that spawns a creative and specific solution. We examine complex issues such as function, sustainability, space, time and financing to arrive at and visualize suitable and feasible solutions. Moreover, we are very ambitious about adding quality to the public domain. In building for the healthcare sector, DHD has gained experience in everything from assisted living facilities to hospitals, and in the process is always working to make buildings that stand the test of time (i.e. are sustainable). A lot of study is needed for that, as is a high level of ambition within each project.

The great international interest in our work shows that its significance extends beyond the Netherlands. It is for that reason that we are working on healthcare projects from the Netherlands to Australia.

Contact: Arnold Burger, architect

Dutch Design

Dutch Design refers the design aesthetic that is specific to designers from the Netherlands. It is renowned for being minimalist, conceptual, innovative, unconventional, humorous and cost effective.

Dutch Design finds expression in a combination of high quality architecture, buildings with a soul, significance for the city, efficiency, high standards for an affordable price, sustainability, and feet on the ground. In the area that the Netherlands has at its disposal, Dutch architects face the tough challenge of making maximum use of limited space. That often entails thinking out of the box‚ because standard solutions are frequently very inadequate. This often leads to new concepts and solutions, which would not have been achieved without the limitations. That is about the result.

But Dutch Design also includes particular characteristics of the process needed to reach that result. The Dutch process to design a hospital is characterized by creating widespread support for the project, particularly in terms of function, through extensive consultation with hospital staff. Consultation ensures that the design responds to the organization and how it works. Achieving support through consultation is often referred to as the ‘polder model’, because people must agree with the plan for a polder and then collaborate on its construction.

Services

We can draw on vast expertise in the area of climate services, electricity and lighting, measurement and regulation systems, fire safety, communication and ICT systems. Not only up-to-date know-how but also insight into the future. That enables us to elaborate a Next Generation Hospital. Establishing a solid basis in the analysis and concept phases enables us to develop a hospital that is flexible enough to accommodate all imaginable future changes. Flexible services lengthen the lifespan of hospital property and enhance its value.

Sustainability in design

A sustainable hospital is the result of an integral design process. All disciplines are of equal stature in these processes. The main consideration is always to select those solutions that have minimum impact on the environment. Through creativity and belief in the future of our planet, we even develop solutions that enhance the environment. Buildings that generate energy and facades and roofs that purify the air are just some of the possibilities of a Next Generation Hospital. The full use of Building Information Modelling as a tool and the right organization and mindset of all people involved means that a sustainable hospital is no longer a utopian dream.

Maintaining that mindset during the construction and use of the hospital results in a highly sustainable hospital and a healthier environment for man and beast.

Contact: Theo de Boer, M&E designer

Flexibility

Society is changing rapidly, and the healthcare sector even faster. Building for the healthcare sector means looking as far as possible into the future. But isn’t a building’s lifespan far too long for that? Dutch Hospital Design considers uncertainty about the future as our only certainty.

But what to build when nothing stays the same? However, not everything changes. The physical needs and possibilities of people have remained the same for thousands of years. As one of the most important aspects of sustainability, flexibility must be the answer based on smart solutions combined with design principles based on the primary needs of human beings, such as natural daylight, orientation and safety. Dutch Hospital Design sees making future scenarios as the way to prepare for uncertainty.

Flexibility in design

Scenarios translate the impact of trends in society, the medical profession and technology into requirements for alterations to a building in the future. The building should meet different demands in terms of initial flexibility, flexibility of the design during the building process, flexibility to change the function of parts of the building during its lifespan, and flexibility to extend or reduce the size of the building. Then we translate flexibility into integrated technical and smart solutions such as floors, facades and industrial prefabricated partition walls.