Prize-winners in the 8th edition of the ARCHIZINC TROPHY by VMZINC
The winner of the 2nd Special mention in the Public buildings Category: : Medisch Spectrum Twente Hospital in Oldenzaal (Netherlands) by Harry ABELS, Marta LACHOWSKA, Rick BRUGGINK, Michelle BOOLTINK, Marc WOOLS, Jan VELDSCHOLTE, Stefan BONNES (IAA Architecten)
SURGICAL BLOCK
Hospital developments are constantly growing and evolving. The most recent extension of the Oldenzaal hospital reunites disparate elements to create a functional whole.
The Medisch Spectrum Twente in Oldenzaal perfectly sums up the logic underlying the design of medical healthcare buildings. Founded in 1895 by the Franciscan Sisters, the establishment moved into a building of Neo-Gothic inspiration, where it has remained to this day. This building was regularly extended (in 1930, 1959, 1979 and 1992). What was originally an isolated construction became the main body of the building, the central element of a collage mixing several periods of the history of architecture, from Neo-Historicism to the functional Modernism of the 1960s. A decrease in the number of inpatients changed the purpose of the establishment, which became specialised in outpatient medicine, focusing on short stays or treatment requiring no hospital stays at all.
The IAA architecture firm led this significant project, restructuring an occupied site, inaugurated in 2017 This new configuration required the destruction of the inpatient wing, which was no longer in use. The historic buildings were restored and all the exterior areas were redesigned. The car park was placed further away from the building, nearer the street. The most significant part of the architects' work was the building clad in PIGMENTO® Brown, erected on part of the former inpatient wing. Its height is in line with that of the existing buildings. The construction of this block made it possible to completely reorganise the hospital's reception area and circulation structures, by giving it a new, clearly identifiable entrance, which opens onto a spacious atrium that becomes the main square of the establishment.
The atrium gets its views and natural light through long horizontal windows, the lines of which are blurred by long vertical zinc profiles. From the outside, the extension looks almost opaque. Intermingling with the veranda, the brickwork and the modernist openings, this facade system creates an elegant concentrate of all the establishment's architectural styles, and prepares it for its new departure.
Jury's assessment: The extension asserts a specific contemporary identity yet blends harmoniously with the varying architectural styles of the existing hospital.
PHOTOS CRÉDIT: VMZINC® - HENNIE RAAYMAKERS