Beheerder website | Dutch Hospital Design

Medical Centre, Alkmaar

The Medical Centre in Alkmaar is currently working to set up a new Top Clinical Intervention Centre in Heerhugowaard. For the design logistics, SQwin health consultants carried out a computer simulation and animation study to analyze the efficiency of the building in relation to all patient, goods, staff and visitor flows.

The computer simulation showed that less expensive facilities (i.e. a logistics basement route) were needed for efficient and effective logistics. In the autumn of 2012, another logistics study was carried out to analyze the logistical effect of separating the current location in Alkmaar and the new clinical location in Heerhugowaard. For this, the current logistics were simulated in the new building layout. The design of the buildings is currently undergoing amendments in response to the outcomes of this study.

Disciplines

Work innovation

Catharina Hospital, Eindhoven

DHD has been regular M&E advisors to this top clinical hospital since 1998. Besides many maintenance projects, we have completed large extensions and renovation schemes. Design Of particular note about the projects for this client is the phased completion over a long period of time.

To guarantee consistency in the deployment of installations, DHD drew up a master plan for the technical installations, which helped to solve short-term problems such as a shortage of cooling capacity and electricity supply. The entire technical infrastructure, both mechanical and electrical, was examined. Improvements, particularly in terms of energy consumption, redundancy and operational safety, are recorded in an infrastructure master plan for technical installations. All proposed measures will be introduced in phases. After the work has been completed, the result will be a fully operational set of installations that are energy efficient, flexible and ready for the future.

Innovative aspects

An example is the renovation of the nursing departments, where patient-centred solutions were implemented. In practice, this meant creating a domestic atmosphere. First, a trial floor was refurbished. Then, on the basis of the experiences with this trial floor, a big factor of repetition was achieved through aiming for more standardization. The result is that as much as possible could be achieved within the available budget. Owing to the high level of standardization and the creative treatment of the design, DHD succeeded in fitting cooling ceilings in the nursing departments.

Sustainable and healthy building

In addition to the patient-centred approach and the responsible choice of materials, energy consumption is minimized by the choice for a complex wide geothermal energy storage/production system.

Disciplines

Mechanical and electrical engineering

Zonnehuis healthcare facility, Amstelveen

Good outdoor space is vital for the provision of high-standard healthcare.

For the grounds of the Zonnehuis healthcare facility in Amstelveen, Hosper landscape architecture and urban design created a car-free, green and vibrant outdoor space. A host of green oases with luxuriant plants and playground equipment set on an expressively designed outdoor surface connect the various healthcare and residential buildings to one another.

The outdoor space surrounding the hospital complex consists of gardens with permanent plants, an entrance hall designed as an orangerie, and a glasshouse for activities for residents. The outdoor area features a terrace and playground zone, and there is also a permanent plant garden that includes a sloped surface and steps for walking exercises. Two gardens have been specifically designed as dementia-friendly spaces.

A special pergola and covered walkway has been built to connect the two parts of the healthcare complex. What is also remarkable is that, apart from the gardens designed specifically for dementia patients, the entire grounds is freely accessible to residents of the surrounding neighbourhood.

Disciplines

Landscape design

University Medical Center Groningen

As a follow up to previously completed assignments for the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), Wassenaar Engineering was appointed to design the structure of a complex of amenities. The complex contains a range of hospital amenities, including a pharmacy, medical faculty with lecture hall, laboratories, X-ray rooms for radiotherapy, staff rooms and company restaurant, as well as spaces for outside parties such as the Sanquin Blood Bank Northeast, the Groningen Dialysis Centre and an Academic Doctors Surgery.

A three-storey car park beneath the building completes the complex. A layer of dense clay in the soil was inventively used as a watertight base for a three-storey car park. This proved to be significantly cheaper than the previous design of a large shallow ‘bowl’ with a large surface area. By making use of the waterproof qualities of the retaining walls (deep concrete wall) and the layer of dense clay, the designers could omit the bottom of the garage. The retaining walls were temporarily anchored by grouted anchors. The columns are held in position by pads that rest directly on the sand. To compensate for the difference in subsidence and the swelling of the columns, an auger programme was executed. The garage is structurally attached to the buildings above it. The offices are housed in the Bridge Building, the name of which refers to the connection, both physical and metaphorical, between the University Hospital and the University of Groningen.

Divided into three sections, the building is 130 m long, up to 11 storeys tall (40 m), and 13.5 m wide. The office building consists of loadbearing facade elements and hollow-core slabs with pressure layers that span from facade to facade. The laboratories, containing facilities such as the blood bank and the dialysis centre, are situated above the garage. The skeleton of the garage extends upwards into the buildings above. The shape of the building and structure of the garage made the choice for a grid of columns with wide-board floors the most efficient. The stability of the components was achieved by the use of poured concrete cores that house the stairwells and elevator shafts. The components have heights ranging from one to six storeys. Situated between the components are a patio with a movable, transparent deck and a restaurant with a fixed transparent roof. Beneath the tall buildings are four radiotherapy levels.

What is remarkable about these underground levels are the thick walls of up to 1.5 m and the steel plates of up to 30 cm in thickness in the walls and the deck. Part of the basement level is occupied by the distribution centre and is connected to the distribution tunnel system of UMCG.

Disciplines

Structural engineering

Linnaeusborg Centre for Life Sciences, University of Groningen

The Linnaeusborg Centre for Life Sciences at the University of Groningen University is a nine-floor faculty building of 36,000m2. It includes three research and training facilities, specialist biochemical labs, MRI, isotope lab, animal facilities, aquariums and greenhouses.

The three research facilities of the Centre for Life Sciences are housed in two wings and a bridge that forms the upper part of the building. The zoology wing rises from the ground floor and connects with the animal housing wing. The south wing, linked to the glasshouses, is dedicated to botany. Between them, on the building’s upper floors, the wings are bridged by the microbiology and biotechnology departments. Linnaeusborg scores highly in terms of sustainability.

The building is compact and boasts a very favourable exterior wall-to-floor ratio. It is also sustainable in terms of materials and energy consumption. Flexible use through consistently applied floor-plan zoning and installations also make the building future-proof in terms of changes in function. In addition, special attention was paid to the development of a light, low-maintenance facade (saving on construction), which is built with innovative, prefabricated polyester facade elements of extremely high insulation value.

The resources have led to an extremely low Energy Performance Coefficient score of 0.662. Structure is also an active component in the design. The building makes use of the campus heat-cold storage facility, one of the largest installations in the Netherlands. The structural floors are also used for heat and cold distribution (concrete core activation). The building contains large openings that admit daylight. The absence of structural walls allows for great freedom in the interior layout.

Disciplines

Structural Enginering

Analysis

Before the actual designing starts, first the commission is analysed thoroughly. We do that to get the whole context clarified. And for hospitals that context is wide-ranging: the healthcare demand, the hospital organisation, the business model, the current way of working, the ICT infrastructure, yet also the spatial context, the site or the existing buildings. In addition we search for the potential for sustainability and for ways to create a healing environment. And all that is incorporated into dynamic scenarios for future developments in healthcare. Within this complexity we use various calculation and spatial models to enable us to communicate with you on the basis of solid information. The analysis is only complete when the core of the commission has become clear and has resulted in the formulation of precise design principles.

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.