National Maternity Hospital at St Vincent’s University Hospital

The proposed new National Maternity Hospital at SVUH will facilitate the relocation of the existing maternity to a new 50,000m2 building comprising a new 244 no. bed maternity hospital; support development for SVUH to replace existing facilities on site. The development also includes an extension to the existing multi-storey car park and other shared support services on the SVUH campus.

The design of the building emphasises the new hospital’s status as a civic building which contributes to its urban and campus context at SVUH.The co-location of the National Maternity Hospital on the SVUH campus is a priority government project to support and improve maternity services nationally and the new hospital will support the delivery of 10,000 babies annually.

The overall form and shape of the building is also a considered design response to the requirement to maintain the identity of the National Maternity Hospital at the SVUH campus. The L shaped form enhances this identity, anchoring the building on the site close to the Merrion road entrance and framing the main entrance to the hospital.

While the project is very much integrated into the SVUH campus the design has embedded proposals for the enhancement of the public realm on the campus as a key design driver and includes new proposals for a new public green space, the public “heart” of the campus, located in the area directly outside the main entrance to both the Maternity Hospital and the exiting SVUH entrance.

The incorporation of a large number of gardens; courtyards and accessible high level terraces within the layout is designed to enrich the experience of patients and staff within the hospital and provide the appropriate therapeutic environment in which access to nature and light is prioritised in the development of the architectural form of the building.

The National Paediatric Hospital

The New Children’s Hospital, designed by BDP in association with O’ Connell Mahon Architects, located on the St. James’s Hospital campus, will provide in-patient care and all surgery and includes: 380 no. inpatient bedrooms (of which 60 no. are critical care beds), 93 no. day beds, an emergency department, operating theatres, a family resource centre, outpatients departments, hospital school, education facilities, therapy areas, staff and visitor canteen, pharmacy, pathology department, public and staff circulation areas, plant and related support and service areas.

The overarching objective for the project is to provide the best infrastructure for paediatric services and to give the new children’s hospital a memorable quality that captures the imagination of children and young people with a unique sense of place. It will also provide the best facilities to support the staff of the three existing children’s hospitals to continue to deliver excellent care.

The new hospital sits comfortably within the existing St. James’s Hospital campus, the first views of the hospital being the distinctive oval wards sitting above a pavilion set in a therapeutic elevated rooftop garden. The garden is an integral part of the design as it will give a tangible sense of this being a special place – one for children and young people, elevated above the world of adults.

Below the elevated garden, the elements which will be distinguishable immediately are the main entrance and the outpatient clusters. These project out on either side of a generous entrance piazza, drawing visitors towards the entrance. The curved form of the ward pavilion reveals itself most clearly above the main entrance, extending down to ground level as a double-height glazed screen giving the piazza and entrance concourse the quality and scale of a public space. Once inside, the visitor is immediately brought to the heard of the hospital – a four-storey high space that visually connects all the building’s principal levels.

Bon Secours Hospital Cork

O’ Connell Mahon were commissioned by the board of the Bon Secours Health Systems in June 2005 to set out the scope and direction for future development of the Bon Secours Hospital, College Road, Cork, in the context of the national plan for the development of services. The resulting development plan proposes the development of the “North Block Expansion” which is a 7 storey structure set into the sloped landscape to the north of the site overlooking the river Lee. The proposal includes a 2 treatment room Radiotherapy Department, Oncology Day ward, 3 Inpatient ward floors and a state of the art Operating Theatre extension and Critical Care Unit. A new operating theatre recovery will be developed as part of a refurbishment of the existing decanted ICU. These departments will link back to the existing hospital at each level and a hospital street linking the existing entrance block to the new north block foyer would form a defined circulation spine. An integrated landscaping scheme addresses the amenity/landscape zoning adjacent to the River Lee to the north and includes a riverside walk. A glazed foyer links the primary horizontal and vertical circulation routes and a series of link bridges connect the existing campus to the new block.

The principal concept was to utilise the sites’ steep topography in order to meet the complex brief requirements. The hospital accommodation is clad in stone cladding which contrasts with the lighter structure glazed links and foyer.

Photographs by F22 Photography 

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North West Cancer Centre Altnagelvin Hospital Derry

There is an increasing body of evidence that suggests that healthcare outcomes are improved in the context of high quality landscape environments: and this is particularly effective where they are closely integrated with the building design concept. This was fundamental to the development of the design approach at for the radiotherapy unit at Altnagelvin. Existing woodlands to the north of the site of Scots Pine, Oak, Birch and Sweet Chestnut informed the design and location of the unit and this quality natural landscape was extended through a series of open court spaces into the interior public circulation areas of the unit.

The building responds to the natural patient anxieties which pertain to radiotherapy treatments by establishing a warm and welcoming ambience from the landscaped entrance court through public areas to treatment rooms; facilitating an efficient and pleasant patient flow.  The building configuration works internally by generating frequent connections to the surrounding landscape and externally by providing an appropriate mass and scale for the radiotherapy bunkers within that landscape.

The internal public domain has continuous visual access to the existing woodland and the newly generated landscaping bringing nature as close to the process of providing radiotherapy as clinically possible. This is achieved by creating a glazed public circulation zone leading from the entrance which flows in and around separate brick-clad functional units; this circulation space brings natural light and landscaping into the heart of the patients’ experience of the radiotherapy process. The functional units are strategically placed within the plan to coincide with the patient’s treatment path.

Above the entrance and radiotherapy level, ward accommodation is arranged to span north south along the length of the building allowing natural light to penetrate to all rooms and providing access to roof gardens over the solid volumes below. These gardens provide fresh air, seating and distant views over the wider landscape.  The technical plant rooms are integrated into the overall massing and envelope of the building at roof level. .

 The Cancer Centre at Altnagelvin run by the Western Health and Social Care Trust of Northern Ireland, was awarded to OCMA in December 2011 following a design competition.

Photos by Ros Cavanagh 

National Rehabilitation Hospital Dún Laoghaire

The design concept is one in which patient wards are formed around a series of courtyards bringing landscaping, views, natural light and ventilation into all of the patient spaces whilst supporting patient movement and circulation in a safe and secure environment in the building.

The design accommodates all existing patients at the NRH in new single rooms, located predominantly along the outer perimeter of the building, with shared support therapies located in the central courtyard zones, creating a central social hub for patients and supporting the process of relearning of daily routines of work and live while in the hospital’s care.

 

 

MISA – Mercers Institute for Successful Aging

MISA is an innovative healthcare model for care of the elderly, combining prevention and clinical care, research and teaching in a single location.

This 15,000sqm building occupies an extremely compacted and complicated site in the south east corner of the St. James’s Hospital complex.

The primary seven storey block, containing the In-patient accommodation, is arranged on a north south axis ensuring sunlight penetration to the bedrooms in the morning and afternoons, whilst also engaging with the public domain along the southern Linear Park. Day Areas with protected balconies benefit from south facing views over the Park and the Dublin cityscape beyond. The block is served by stair / lift cores at each end with circulation routes arranged around centrally located ancillary accommodation.

The larger ground and first floor template area arranged around a central landscaped courtyard, which also serves to animate the main two storey concourse and waiting areas associated with the ambulatory care clinics.

The Creative Life Centre occupies a pivotal position in the centre of the complex with workshop, office and an exhibition area animating the entry experience and reflecting the importance of creativity amongst the elderly.

The research component consisting of laboratories and testing facilities are located in the four storey block with a link connection to the Entrance Atrium.

South Tipperary General Hospital Ward Extension

This project involved the completion Ireland’s largest modular ward extension – a 3,300 sqm, 40-bed ward extension at South Tipperary General Hospital. The development consists of a two-storey accommodation block linked to the main hospital with 20 beds per floor. It features 40 single bed en-suite rooms, reception and lounge areas, kitchen facilities, staff changing rooms, store-rooms and drug preparation facilities.

South Tipperary General Hospital is located in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary and provides acute general and maternity services to a catchment area of South Tipperary, North Tipperary and West Waterford

The design philosophy has been to design a modern and contemporary ward unit that creates an environment that is both pleasant and welcoming to all users, which provides all of the care and treatment facilities necessary for acutely ill patients from admission to discharge. The proposed design will create a restorative ward environment that is capable of accommodating patients with different needs simultaneously, while maximising outcomes and hospital efficiency.

 

We consider that a low, domestic-scaled building, broken up in scale, reduces the institutional feel and creates an architecture that is supportive and pleasant to both the patients and the staff, while keeping in scale with the surrounding South Tipperary General Hospital accommodation across the site.

 

The proposed scheme offers very good natural light and ventilation opportunities, with ample access and views to the natural landscaping surrounding the building. All patient rooms are situated on the perimeter of the building, looking outwards. This gives rise to excellent daylighting opportunities within patient bedrooms and allows for pleasant views of the existing surrounding landscapes spaces, engendering a genuinely therapeutic environment

Temple Street Children’s University Hospital OPD

This three-storey extension above the existing single storey Out Patient Department (OPD) at Temple Street Children’s University Hospital provides fully integrated outpatient facilities for renal and neurological patients on two levels with an interstitial plantroom at below at first floor. The new outpatient accommodation connects to the adjacent existing outpatient facilities on both floors and has adequate vertical circulation capacity to allow for possible future expansion.

The façade is clad with aluminium panels with glazed areas which are, in the main, of similar proportions to those used in the surrounding Georgian residential architecture. Given that the hospital is for children and referring to the use of stained glass in the original hospital, colour is introduced in these glazed sections.

Larger windows are used for bright generous play areas on both levels. The external colour scheme is brought through the interiors and contrasting colour is introduced to provide a bright playful ambience. This colour scheme is enhanced by animal motifs made for the unit by artist Paula McGloin which are used for identity and wayfinding and to provide coherence and vitality to the spaces throughout

The construction was undertaken while all hospital services remained live and active in departments adjacent to and below the construction zone. The safety of the staff, child patients and visitors at every stage of their interaction with the hospital was central to the strategic planning and execution of the works. Set down for the Emergency Department is directly below the site and as a result emergency routes had to be maintained and protected at all times throughout the build: and operating theatres and ward accommodation were in close proximity operating a 24/7 service.

The development connects to and completes the adjacent OPD extension bringing the complete urban block to four storeys and setting a new urban edge to the hospital. The existing structure at ground floor level is listed in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Great care has been taken to minimise the impact of the proposal on the same. Main granite features have been preserved and the 1904 entablature, which was in very poor condition has been carefully stored and a replica erected in its original location. A band of recessed louvres cladding the plantrooms at Level 01 allows for a clean architectural transition between old and new.

Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore Co Offaly

This project consists of the redevelopment of the Midland Regional Hospital at Tullamore with a new insitu concrete structure that expands the fine existing hospital building designed by Michael Scott in the early 1940’s.

The campus is conceived as an urban entity expanding and consolidating the development of the town and reflecting the regional importance of the service it provides.

The new hospital is set in a landscaped campus within easy walking distance of the town. A boulevard of trees leads visitors to a forecourt and drop-off area at the main entrance to the Hospital. The triple height Entrance Concourse is naturally lit by a full height west facing glazed screen. This Concourse is situated at the mid-point of the three storey Hospital Street from which all the Hospital Departments are accessed.

The design maximizes the use of natural light and ventilation by use of a series of internal courtyards located both east and west of the Hospital Street, providing a bright, therapeutic environment for the delivery of health care services.