Cantonal hospital Basel, clinic 1 west
Basel, Switzerland
2002-2003
Cantonal
hospital.
Overview
Bauherrschaft
Canton Basel-Stadt, Switzerland
Architecture
Silvia Gmür und Livio Vacchini, Basel, Switzerland
Team ZPF
Jörg Brändlin, Andreas Zachmann
Awards
Auszeichnung Guter Bauten Kanton Basel-Landschaft Kanton Basel-Stadt 2008
The project Clinic 1 is a prime example of a successful combination of a refurbishment of building fabric worth protecting and a sophisticated new building. The extra space needed for the new surgical unit and women's clinic was conceived as an extension of the existing building typology.
A square three-storey body with a translucent facade was placed in front of the western end of the 1940 clinic building. This new body is based on a spacious concentric structure that allows flexible use of space. In order to provide light for the laboratory areas on the underground floor, five triangular ramps were formed in the ground in front of the building. Light is directed from the facade and through the middle, so that all rooms have natural lighting despite considerable depths.
The outer facade meets the complex requirements pertaining to aesthetics, room quality, light quality, glare protection and visual guidance, as well as criteria regarding energy and structural physics. The arrangement of floors, the proportions and the support structure that is indicated by the facade's appearance were all carried over from the old building to the extension, so as to achieve harmony between their facades. The existing low-rise buildings were converted and their support structures were adapted. The building extensions were made with a skeleton structure, using in-situ concrete elements and white cement. Large span widths were realised by means of pre-stressed concrete.