Fuwai Huazhong Hospital
This award-winning competition design, an 1100-bed hospital complex located in Henan Province, accommodates inpatient and outpatient services, health screening, diagnostic and treatment, and research and teaching spaces. Connectivity between these areas, through the serpentine form and public circulation paths, reflects the concept of Chi: the flow of energy and life force often used in Chinese culture as a symbol of health.
Client
Fuwai Huazhong Hospital
Location
Zhengzhou, China
Markets/Services
Architecture, Health, Programming
Size
188,642 GSM / 2,030,525 SF
Featured Awards
2014 , Unbuilt Design Award, American Institute of Architects, San Francisco Chapter
The hospital is intended to serve as a national cardiovascular center of excellence for the entire nation. As such, the hospital is designed to function as a small city, placing various specialties into concentrated neighborhoods of care. By breaking the complex down into neighborhoods, the individual departments become a more accessible and intimate scale for the patients and staff. The circulation path is open, light-filled, and provides continuous views to nature as individuals navigate between the hospital neighborhoods.
Sustainable strategies include building orientation to minimize the harsh east and west solar exposure. Solar controlled sunshades are designed to protect the south façade of the Inpatient Tower and Outpatient Clinics while providing filtered daylight. Natural daylight is a key feature of the hospital design. Narrow footprints throughout the diagnostic and treatment areas allow for daylight to permeate through every room in the hospital. Visual connections from inpatient and outpatient zones to the surrounding lake and nearby river as well as views of rooftop gardens and central garden courtyard create a sense of openness. The building’s form reinforces this openness as it expands to the city beyond like two arms reaching out to the community.