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https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/oct/09/zurich-hospital-kinderspital-herzog-de-meuron>
"‘Hospitals are the ugliest places in the world,” says Jacques Herzog. “They
are a product of blind functionalist thinking, while neglecting basic human
needs.” The Swiss architect has a point. With their low ceilings, windowless
corridors and harsh fluorescent lighting, hospitals can sometimes seem
consciously calibrated to make you feel ill, if you didn’t already. Attempts to
jolly them up with coloured cladding panels and art commissions do little to
distract from the bleak reality of buildings where the human experience – for
patients, doctors and visitors alike – is often an afterthought.
Herzog insists it doesn’t have to be like this. And he has proof. He is
standing in the circular entrance courtyard of his practice’s stunning riposte
to the last century of grim healthcare buildings. It is a tranquil space
reminiscent of a sylvan spa complex, ringed with sculpted wooden slats and
planted with tall trees and ferns, where light bounces off marble sculptures
that glisten in the drizzle. A broad gallery deck encircles the floor above,
with a touch of Shakespeare’s Globe theatre, where bedrooms spill out on to
wide, daylit corridors. Entering through revolving pink glass doors, you find a
concrete staircase spiralling down into the foyer, curling around a core of
colourful neon tubes that look ready to beam you upstairs.
Welcome to Zurich’s remarkable new children’s hospital, the Kinderspital – or
“Kispi” for short – a 14-year endeavour to revolutionise how we think about the
architecture of healing. It is not trying to be a fancy hotel, like some
private hospitals with their plush carpets and room service. It is just a place
where simple things like the quality of light and views, the scale and
proportion of spaces and the texture of materials have been thought about with
immense care, and honed to make the experience as pleasant as possible for
everyone. Why should this be so unusual?"
Via
Reasons to be Cheerful
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-were-reading-hospital-like-a-spa/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
