The Maas en Kempen hospital arose from the merger of the Maaseik hospital and the Bree hospital. The new hospital is located on the periphery of Maaseik, along the Dienstersteenweg and the Schuurstraat.
The hospital is not a world on its own. Revealing the green surroundings inside the hospital was basic to the design. Affording views of the environment from any place where patients, visitors and staff find themselves, enhances orientation and tranquillity.
Furthermore, the concept is characterized by breaking up the program into five separate buildings, interlinked by corridors and sky bridges, thus emphasizing the small scale of the hospital.
This concept originates from approaching the project from a real estate perspective. Each building type is optimized in terms of construction method, installation technique and measurements (floor-to-floor height and grid). The ‘individual-building-model’ provides flexibility and allows extensibility or shrinkage per building and reduced building costs for the total. The concept subsequently expresses itself in different designs for each building to make them recognisable. This model offers obvious orientation for patient, visitors and professionals. The landscape is designed around and between the buildings and merges with the interior, thus providing pleasant views.
The hospital functions are thus divided over the five buildings:
1. In-patient wards in the ‘Hotel building’
2. Operation theatres, ICU, Emergency department and Radiotherapy in the ‘Hotfloor’
3. Out-patient departments, Administration and Management in the ‘Office building’
4. Support services from cleaning services to laboratory in the ‘Factory’
5. Entrance, restaurant, helpdesks etc. in the ‘Entrance building’.