Healthcare Centre IJburg / LEVS Architecten

Oct 2011

Uploaded by Megan Jett — Filed under: Healthcare Architecture ,Selected , Amsterdam, LEVS Architecten, The Netherlands

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Courtesy of LEVS Architecten

Architects: LEVS Architecten
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Client: IJ-Delta
Project Year: 2008
Project Area: 2,300 sqm
Photographs: Courtesy of LEVS Architecten

This building is part of an urban development master plan for block 11, which was designed by KCAP. This plan partially defines the sizes, the volumes and the indents in the block. The building highlights an important urban development location on the corner of IJburglaan and Daguerrestraat. This location is central in IJburg making it is easily accessible for all inhabitants. The same complex includes 13 residences that in part are located above the health care center. This combination brings out the livelihood and various functionalities in the busy neighborhood. The side street is open with a lot of variety thanks to the many frames and indents in the outer wall. The outer wall on IJburglaan is relatively closed off, an exception within the block. This way the corner forms a clear connection to the no less striking and high corner of the shopping mall across the street on the Daguerrestraat.

Section

The building is complex due to the combination of various care functions. The health care houses not only a health care center but also a General Practitioner’s office and a pharmacy, juvenile care, health services, Stichting Voorportaal (convenience services), an obstetric clinic, social workers office, speech therapy center and an outpatient desk for the OLVG hospital. This allows residents to find help for many ailments close by. Combining various health care functions is a relatively new phenomenon in Amsterdam. This is the first centre to offer such extensive care in IJburg and it can handle approx. 10,000 patients a year. The building consists of three volumes that are visually separated by differences in height and incisions in the facade. This gives the building a spatial and sculptural quality and matches the urban development context. Exclusive in the design are the white frames behind which sun blinds and baffle filters have been installed. These frames mark an inner or outer volume in the wall. The anodized aluminium frames highlight the entrance, the gate and the special voids in the incisions.

Courtesy of LEVS Architecten

The lay out is aimed at combining the various functions in an obvious way. The most accessible functions are the closest to the entrance. The most visitors can be found on the ground floor where the pharmacy, the health service centre, juvenile care centre and Stichting Voorportaal are located.

Courtesy of LEVS Architecten

The first floor also is publicly accessible and houses functions such as community care and social work. The smaller offices of the GP’s, physiotherapists, obstetric nurses and the hospital’s outpatient desk are on the floors higher up. Because the care functions are clustered per floor an atmosphere of massiveness is prevented. The interior contributes to this with its warm atmosphere, which is created by the wooden accents on a neutral white and a grey background.