Children suffering from severe illness often leave their homes and families to receive the necessary care. In most of Sweden, accommodations for the relatives of the ill are built in the vicinity of the larger pediatric clinics.
The largest of these accommodations will be built in Umeå, Norrland. Named “Hjältarnas Hus” or "Home for Heroes," the building was designed by White Arkitekter and broke ground on Friday, March 4.
Hjältarnas Hus will be located in a beautiful park, within the vicinity of, but without views to the University Hospital of Umeå. The new building will have a total of 15 rooms for overnight stays, cooking and socializing, designed to be expandable. Most notably, there will be no medical facilities, only a general tone of health and wellness, with an exercise and playroom, including treadmills, ping-pong tables and soft rugs planned. During the planning stage, children, parents and hospital staff were able to contribute their wishes to the architects, giving input on decisions involving privacy and the scale of socializing and collective activities.
”What’s most important for us is that the house contributes to making their hospital stay less sombre…Our ambition was to create a general warm, homelike impression with natural materials, soft colours and welcoming lighting in all rooms. Pleasant indoor climate and consideration for the environment and long-term sustainability were guiding parameters in our work,” says Anna-Carin Dahlberg, the head of the Umeå studio for White Arkitekter.
The estimated completion date is in February 2017.
