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Martini Hospital
Martini Hospital
Groningen, Netherlands
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Other Projects by Dutch Hospital Design
Martini Hospital
Groningen, Netherlands
Society is changing rapidly, and the care sector even more so. Building for the care sector means looking into the future as far as possible, but a building’s lifecycle (40 years) is much too long for that. But not everything changes. The physical needs and possibilities of people have been the same for thousands of years. Natural light, a view, space, safety, orientation, length of escape routes, etc. will not change over the coming decades. With this in mind, we consider the uncertainty about the future as our only certainty.
For the design of the new construction of the Martini Hospital, the theme of flexibility was worked out thoroughly by architect Arnold Burger of SEED architects. As a result, the Ministry of Public Health, Spatial Planning and the Environment, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs awarded the project with the IFD demonstration status (industrial, flexible, demountable building method). As the building is mostly based on human possibilities and needs, the environment may be considered as healing. This was not only brought about by the architecture, also the application of artist Peter Struycken’s special colour palette, through collaboration with interior architect Bart Vos, played an important part.
The schedule of requirements was tested through analysis of several important common departments, such as the nursing ward or the outpatients’ clinic. The analysis showed the ideal size of a uniform building block to be 60 by 16m¹, giving a floor area of almost 1,000m². A positive feature of the building block is that it is functionally completely interchangeable, both during the design phase and in the subsequent user phase. In contrast to the customary dimensions of Dutch hospitals, the building block’s depth is 16m¹. This allows for relatively much more incidence of daylight. This is also one of the conditions for total interchangeability of functions. We prefer to hang a storage room on the outside wall, rather than having a working space without daylight.
After much study and product development, SEED architects managed to work out the IFD principles down to the smallest details. With the aid of partitions, disconnectables, fixed furniture and fittings, all sorts of changes can be realised at room level, without causing hindrance to the adjacent rooms. For instance, it is possible to move supply points for electricity, medical gases and water, as well as counters and cabinets. In other words, F for flexible led to D for detachable, making I for Industrial development possible. The metal partitions not only offer an extraordinary layout flexibility, but also new design options to create a different, less clinical atmosphere in the hospital rooms.
The building’s extremely functional basic outline has been fitted into the environment, presenting a public building with a curved facade facing the town. The other “snake” of the building connects the surrounding buildings, thanks to its zigzag shape. The two different shapes lend a unique identity to all outdoor spaces, making the orientation inside and around the building relatively easy.
The building is made suitable to house other functions like a school or offices and it can even be filled with 250 dwellings. This gives the hospital a real exit strategy, because the building isn’t fully written off in 40 years as normally is done, but it keeps it value at a much more higher level. The structure of the building allows to rent parts of the building to other functions in case the hospital needs less space to fulfill their tasks.
The four materials of the exterior, namely plasterwork, steel, glass, and wood, combined with the colour scheme, make the building recognizable as a health care building. The boxes in the glass facade and the dynamics of the sun blinds and flaps indicate that the building will always be moving, just like health care in the 21st century.
Interior architect’s vision:
The strength of the design is that the interior architect for the project, Bart Vos, came into this project without experience with hospitals. This lead to an unusual solution: “The hospital corset has been shed!”. The furnishings and fittings of the Martini Hospital are not primarily decorative, instead, their soul is anchored in the architecture. From the start of the project, the client, architect and interior architect worked closely together. This led to a clear and consistent result. The well-known “long corridors” were broken up in various ways, including colours, resulting in different atmospheres. “This is a building you have to discover.”
After determining the rules of play for the colour application, we could roll out the colour palette in a consistent and clear manner. “A threaded chain of colours, applied with a degree of randomness, but nevertheless directed“. Here the designers found a connection with the IFD (Industrial Flexible Demountable) building system. They consistently applied this to all elements in the building till the furnishings and fittings. A matrix of colours and interior elements resulted in a flexible and industrial design for both exterior and interior to survive the changes of the future.
For the design of the new construction of the Martini Hospital, the theme of flexibility was worked out thoroughly by architect Arnold Burger of SEED architects. As a result, the Ministry of Public Health, Spatial Planning and the Environment, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs awarded the project with the IFD demonstration status (industrial, flexible, demountable building method). As the building is mostly based on human possibilities and needs, the environment may be considered as healing. This was not only brought about by the architecture, also the application of artist Peter Struycken’s special colour palette, through collaboration with interior architect Bart Vos, played an important part.
The schedule of requirements was tested through analysis of several important common departments, such as the nursing ward or the outpatients’ clinic. The analysis showed the ideal size of a uniform building block to be 60 by 16m¹, giving a floor area of almost 1,000m². A positive feature of the building block is that it is functionally completely interchangeable, both during the design phase and in the subsequent user phase. In contrast to the customary dimensions of Dutch hospitals, the building block’s depth is 16m¹. This allows for relatively much more incidence of daylight. This is also one of the conditions for total interchangeability of functions. We prefer to hang a storage room on the outside wall, rather than having a working space without daylight.
After much study and product development, SEED architects managed to work out the IFD principles down to the smallest details. With the aid of partitions, disconnectables, fixed furniture and fittings, all sorts of changes can be realised at room level, without causing hindrance to the adjacent rooms. For instance, it is possible to move supply points for electricity, medical gases and water, as well as counters and cabinets. In other words, F for flexible led to D for detachable, making I for Industrial development possible. The metal partitions not only offer an extraordinary layout flexibility, but also new design options to create a different, less clinical atmosphere in the hospital rooms.
The building’s extremely functional basic outline has been fitted into the environment, presenting a public building with a curved facade facing the town. The other “snake” of the building connects the surrounding buildings, thanks to its zigzag shape. The two different shapes lend a unique identity to all outdoor spaces, making the orientation inside and around the building relatively easy.
The building is made suitable to house other functions like a school or offices and it can even be filled with 250 dwellings. This gives the hospital a real exit strategy, because the building isn’t fully written off in 40 years as normally is done, but it keeps it value at a much more higher level. The structure of the building allows to rent parts of the building to other functions in case the hospital needs less space to fulfill their tasks.
The four materials of the exterior, namely plasterwork, steel, glass, and wood, combined with the colour scheme, make the building recognizable as a health care building. The boxes in the glass facade and the dynamics of the sun blinds and flaps indicate that the building will always be moving, just like health care in the 21st century.
Interior architect’s vision:
The strength of the design is that the interior architect for the project, Bart Vos, came into this project without experience with hospitals. This lead to an unusual solution: “The hospital corset has been shed!”. The furnishings and fittings of the Martini Hospital are not primarily decorative, instead, their soul is anchored in the architecture. From the start of the project, the client, architect and interior architect worked closely together. This led to a clear and consistent result. The well-known “long corridors” were broken up in various ways, including colours, resulting in different atmospheres. “This is a building you have to discover.”
After determining the rules of play for the colour application, we could roll out the colour palette in a consistent and clear manner. “A threaded chain of colours, applied with a degree of randomness, but nevertheless directed“. Here the designers found a connection with the IFD (Industrial Flexible Demountable) building system. They consistently applied this to all elements in the building till the furnishings and fittings. A matrix of colours and interior elements resulted in a flexible and industrial design for both exterior and interior to survive the changes of the future.
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