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Architects
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Location
Biel/Bienne, Switzerland -
Architect
bauzeit architekten -
Client
Stiftung Kinderspital Wildermeth -
Area
2845.0 m2 -
Project Year
2008 -
Photographs
Text description provided by the architects. The children’s clinic ‘Wildermeth’, in the early 2000s, decided to join the hospital complex Biel. This is envisaged to improve its services and simultaneously reduce operating costs through synergies with the existing hospital. The shape of the building is the result of the need for a maximum constructible development in the front perimeter set to have the most number of locals in contact with the outside.
The geometry of the structure of the new Annex strictly follows the support of the underground car park behind. The first level is on reinforced concrete and the higher level is made of steel in order to minimize the burden on the existing levels. The inside spatial development has the desire to avoid the conventional model of hospital spaces. The long and dark corridor is abandoned and replaced by circulatory spaces, bathed in natural light, with dynamic forms that present different perspectives and changes.
All traffic areas in their end result on singular points such as the outside landscape or the indoor landscape (court or sculptures). These are not just traffic areas, but also places to meet and exchange; where all parties not included at the program may take place. The colored glass facades add to the interior landscape by creating lights and reflections that change with the seasons and times of the day.
All Children’s rooms are located at the ground floor having views and access to the garden, which was designed to be viewed from inside. The main entrance to the clinic is through the central access of the hospital complex and not through the new annex. A series of penguin sculptures animates the landscape. From each child's room these animals can be seen, establishing a very special dynamic between the inside and outside.
