Zhejiang University Medical Center, Hangzhou, China

Winning design unveiled for Zhejiang University Medical Center

Zhejiang University Medical Center (ZUMC), affiliated with the School of Medicine of Zhejiang University, is a replacement hospital encompassing more than 1 million square feet on a dense urban site. With 600 inpatient beds, a state-of-the-art surgery suite, ambulatory clinics and comprehensive support services, the new facility advances Zhejiang University Medical Center’s legacy of leadership in quality healthcare and education, housing healthcare’s most advanced technologies and complex functions with efficiency and grace in a truly human-centered environment. It also celebrates the natural beauty and lushness of Hangzhou, a temperate "garden city" renowned for its history of artistic and intellectual refinement.

The Medical Center’s human-centered focus manifests in abundant natural light and views and, notably, in the integration of "spaces for people" throughout the facility, including a number of gardens and courtyards that enhance the healing environment for patients, families, and staff. The largest of these spaces, a weather-protected "urban living room," daily provides thousands of patients and their families with convenient access to shops, cafés, gardens, and outdoor seating. A large garden on the site featuring a number of century-old trees was preserved in a courtyard that functions as a huge outdoor atrium, providing light, air, and visual orientation for vertical circulation and hospital departments at the courtyard’s edges.

Placement of the hospital tower away from the street edge creates a low pedestrian scale, its positioning on the site’s North side maximizes sunlight to the central garden. All patient rooms enjoy south-facing windows. Inviting grounds and entryways project a civic presence and signify the institution's commitment to community.
source: www.worldarchitecturenews.com
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