With 114 rooms, the new University Children’s Hospital Zurich is the largest healthcare facility for children and adolescents in Switzerland. Located in a residential neighborhood, the roughly CHF761 million (US$887 million) project comprises two buildings: an acute care hospital and a research and teaching facility.
The acute care hospital functions like a town, with the medical specialties as neighborhoods. On each of the hospital’s three floors, a central main street runs past the green courtyard, providing orientation and allowing sunlight into the building.
The patient rooms are located on the hospital’s top floor. Each room has been designed like a wooden cottage with its own roof—providing both privacy and a view of the outdoors. The staggered rooms have rooftops at varying inclines, emphasizing the singular identity of each patient. The rooms also offer enough space for parents to spend the night with their children.
The hospital’s abundant daylight, outdoor views, and biophilic design aim to contribute to healing, according to a statement from the design architect, Herzog & de Meuron.
The white, cylindrical teaching and research building features an open, five-story atrium in the center. The research fields are arranged around this central core to encourage collaboration and communication. The building has one 320-seat lecture hall and two 100-seat seminar rooms, as well as study areas. With movable walls, the lecture/seminar rooms, lobby, and café can be reconfigured to form one large event space that can accommodate 670 people. On the floors above, research laboratories and accompanying offices have unobstructed views of the surrounding landscape.
Boulders unearthed during construction have been placed in and around the buildings. The project team also planted over 250 trees.
On the building team:
Design architect: Herzog & de Meuron
Architect of record: ARGE KISPI (Herzog & de Meuron and Gruner)
Electrical engineer: Amstein + Walthert
Plumbing engineer: Ingenieurbüro Riesen
Structural engineer: ZPF Ingenieure
Building automation and smart building: Jobst Willers Engineering
Construction manager: Gruner
Related Stories
Architects | Sep 12, 2022
FWA Group joins national architecture, interior design, and planning firm Hord Coplan Macht
Hord Coplan Macht acquires FWA Group.
| Sep 8, 2022
The Twin Cities’ LGBTQ health clinic moves into a new and improved facility
For more than 50 years, Family Tree Clinic has provided reproductive and sexual health services to underserved populations—from part of an old schoolhouse, until recently.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022
Top 90 Construction Management Firms for 2022
CBRE, Alfa Tech, Jacobs, and Hill International head the rankings of the nation's largest construction management (as agent) and program/project management firms for nonresidential and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022
Top 200 Contractors for 2022
Turner Construction, STO Building Group, Whiting-Turner, and DPR Construction top the ranking of the nation's largest general contractors, CM at risk firms, and design-builders for nonresidential buildings and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022
Top 45 Engineering Architecture Firms for 2022
Jacobs, AECOM, WSP, and Burns & McDonnell top the rankings of the nation's largest engineering architecture (EA) firms for nonresidential buildings and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022
Top 80 Engineering Firms for 2022
Kimley-Horn, Tetra Tech, Langan, and NV5 head the rankings of the nation's largest engineering firms for nonresidential buildings and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 21, 2022
Top 110 Architecture/Engineering Firms for 2022
Stantec, HDR, HOK, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill top the rankings of the nation's largest architecture engineering (AE) firms for nonresidential and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 20, 2022
Top 180 Architecture Firms for 2022
Gensler, Perkins and Will, HKS, and Perkins Eastman top the rankings of the nation's largest architecture firms for nonresidential and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Aug 19, 2022
2022 Giants 400 Report: Tracking the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms
Now 46 years running, Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report rankings the largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. This year a record 519 AEC firms participated in BD+C's Giants 400 report. The final report includes more than 130 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories.
Daylighting | Aug 18, 2022
Lisa Heschong on 'Thermal and Visual Delight in Architecture'
Lisa Heschong, FIES, discusses her books, "Thermal Delight in Architecture" and "Visual Delight in Architecture," with BD+C's Rob Cassidy.
