Healing architecture in a suburban park
The project is based on the vision of Healing Architecture, latest research and the client’s vision for future psychiatric treatment. Visions that place the patient in the center of their own treatment, with focus on good working conditions and use of the built environment as well as the surroundings for stimulating activities and communities within the hospital facility. This is accommodated in the project by reinforcing the potentials of the site, using resilient and sustainable materials and by merging the indoor and outdoor, both physically and mentally. The park encloses the buildings and create the experience of being in the park itself surrounded by tree tops, tree trunks and grasses. Nature becomes a contributing factor in the healing process.
Five new units form the New Psychiatric Hospital, specialized in the treatment of eating disorders, offering a conference center, a clinic, a day hospital and a smaller hospital accommodation. The new buildings are organized like pearls on a string and differ in the interior by architectural features that form a clearly perceptible concept for architectural way-finding. Diversity in space, distinctive skylights and precise framing of views to the park designate meeting spaces and coordination points between personnel and patients. A distinct internal flow connects the five buildings and is defined by a continuous use of warm materials for interior cladding and evocative experiences of movement in relation to the surrounding park. The project introduces a strategic building concept characterized by a warm, calming and welcoming atmosphere, which is open to a subsequent user programming. The project is to be certified DGNB gold.