2013 | Dutch Hospital Design

Freek Jan Kossen, Gemini Hospital: “A pleasant hospital for everyone”

DHD Partners show how to make it

A magnificent hospital on a new site. With promising elements like Planetree and the Living Building Concept. Construction coordinator Freek Jan Kossen is closely involved in the project to design the new Gemini Hospital in Den Helder. Even though the current economic climate has slowed progress, he talks about the project enthusiastically.

The importance of Planetree

“Our patients are our clients. Our existence depends on them. In our world of efficiency, we also want to create the time and space to approach the patient in a friendly manner. Just like in a good hotel.” Freek Jan Kossen supports the importance of Planetree. The idea behind Planetree is that if a patient feels comfortable, he will recover more quickly. “The quality of the patient experience is one of our criteria. A healing environment ensures that visitors like to come here. The design makes that happen.” The building receives plenty of daylight, offers wonderful views from various spaces, and establishes clear contact with nature.

Living Building Concept for now and later

The Gemini Hospital wants a multipurpose hospital building that can adapt effectively to changing demands, wishes and functions. Freek Jan Kossen: “Give us a hospital that is designed and built according to the Living Building Concept. We have opted for a clever, future-proof and economically most advantageous building.”

Top score in design competition

“The guiding principle in the design was a healing environment in the most economically advantageous hospital. In selecting the winning proposal for the 25,000-m2 building, we carefully considered the quality of experience for both patients and staff, as well as the functional and technical quality. Is it cleverly designed? Does the patient like to be in our hospital? How good have the future scenarios been outlined? We discussed everything with the candidates and tested their competence in the area of collaboration. The consortium of partners from DHD came out on top.” *)

All-round quality

“The integrated character of the design is excellent I think. Certainly when you look at the integration of architecture and landscape, installations and construction. And the position of the hospital on the available site is cleverly considered. The local authorities were enthusiastic straight away. The winning design also carefully considered the integration of ICT and the translation of work concepts. Of course some aspects need improvement, but you discuss those together and change accordingly.”

Enduring relation

The design, construction and maintenance of a hospital is a major undertaking. We are only starting that process in Den Helder. Freek Jan Kossen: “You have to deal with the complexity of healthcare and with the hospital as an enterprise. It is then important to establish a good relationship of trust with one another, in which all sorts of arguments are put forward as the design develops. We achieve that excellently in Den Helder!”

*) In the Helder Oranje consortium of contractors and designers, Dutch Hospital Design partners oversaw the design.

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DHD partner Valstar Simonis in possession of ISO 14001 certificate

Sustainability has become part of our daily routine through the years. Energy saving and sustainable techniques are nowadays a very common part of our conceptual designs. Valstar Simonis itself also undertakes continuous action to reduce its carbon footprint . Since a couple of years we are in the possession of our certificate for ISO 14001 to improve our environmental performance. We want to prove to the outside world and to all of our staff, that we are serious about sustainability. We see Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as the fundament of our existence. It is therefore a natural step that we aim to further reduction of our environmental impact, for our clients by sustainable design as well as our own direct impact.

Read more on Duurzaam Vastgoed (in Dutch)

Heart-lung center designed by Dutch Hospital Design partner is the best in the country

On the ‘Day of the Nursing’ the heart-lung center of the Medical Center Alkmaar (MCA), designed by Dutch Hospital Design partner SEED, was named the best hospital department in The Netherlands.The judges are patients and their family who gave positive feedback of a specific hospital department via the website of the campaign: “The Netherlands thanks the healthcare”. MCA was also nominated for the best Healthcare institution. The results will be made known on the 8th June 2011.

We strive for a HEALING ENVIRONMENT in our projects. This projects shows that the Healing Environment was successfully applied. Click here to see the presentation ‘A Stimulating Environment’.

Hosper + Mandaworks awarded with 3rd prize for “Resilient Mikkeli”

HOSPER and MANDAWORKS have been awarded the third prize in the open international architectural competition in Mikkeli, Finland. From 107 proposals submitted last October, HOSPER and MANDAWORKS were one of five teams selected to continue working on the second stage. On April 25th, 2013 the winners were announced. The jury described the proposal of HOSPER and MANDAWORKS as follows: “A proposal which is rich in ideas and has involved extensive research, whose ecological approach is one of the most praiseworthy in the competition”.

About Dutch Hospital Design

Dutch Hospital Design is a multidisciplinary team of specialists applying comprehensive concepts and creating fully integrated designs for next generation hospitals. Our aim is to meet all future needs by designing :

optimal organizations, functioning and ICT support;
healing environments in harmony with their surroundings;
flexible architecture that adapts to changing needs;
sustainable services that minimize energy costs.

Dutch Hospital Design works closely with clients to explore all choices throughout the design and development process and after the building opens.

[one_half]ARCHITECTURE
Mr. Arnold Burger
Koelmalaan 350
1812 PS Alkmaar
The Netherlands
Phone 00 31 655 71 01 50

Catharina Hospital

What we do

Health

What is more important than being healthy? And if your health is not perfect, healthcare organizations will do all they can to make you healthy again. It is common knowledge that organizations perform much better if they work in well-designed facilities. ‘The best facilities for the best healthcare.’ To design those facilities, Dutch Hospital Design understands both your organization and developments in healthcare and society.

Some of the latter include preventative healthcare instead of damage control, concepts about front and back doors, increasing lifespans, increasing long-term care for chronic illnesses, cost efficiency, hospitals within a patient-centred network, scarce human resources (work smarter, not harder), social involvement, healing environment and working environment, e-health and so on.

Healthcare facility design

These healthcare developments force us to think of sophisticated concepts when designing future-proof healthcare facilities, since they impact strongly on what the building should offer. There are two basic sides to the challenges: a very rational side and a very emotional one. They require efficient facilities set in an attractive, personal and natural setting. Moreover, they require the right balance between standardization and tailor-made facilities.

Thinking in this way, Dutch Hospital Design is ready to design for today’s spatial demands based on medical procedures and to create flexible facilities that can accommodate future innovations.

Work innovation

The Next Generation Hospital is a combination of bits, bricks and brains. It starts with the brains. This is about searching for answers to future challenges. What are the ways of working in the future hospital? By looking at trends in society, and other sectors such as the financial and aviation industries, we find the right inspiration to create better healthcare processes.

Dutch Hospital Design organizes various congresses and enjoys extensive experience as consultants in healthcare and other areas. That enables Dutch Hospital Design to apply best practices from other sectors in healthcare. In addition, the bits enable and support these new processes. Both the design and implementation of modern ICT solutions are key to all innovation in work. Dutch Hospital Design develops ICT strategies for hospitals and advises hospital boards on ICT selection and implementation. But that is not all.

The building and environment play a crucial role in making the work processes and ICT systems function smoothly. Dutch Hospital Design develops smart workspheres that harmonize with those processes and ICT systems, designs logistics, and defines spatial requirements in such a way that the architecture and building professionals know what to do.

Contact: Marcel Bingley

Yearly Archives: 2013