A space destined for the care of body and mind, the hospital is above all a place of life, sensitive and interactive, a direct extension of the nature that surrounds it. The building’s distribution pattern is organized in the form of an X around a central space resting at the heart of the site where all the activity rooms are to be found. This pattern is the result of an analysis of the hospital’s internal functioning, as well as an effort to augment the site’s landscape possibilities. The three accommodation wings, as well as the wing for administration and logistics, emanate from this core : each of the four arms are formed by an alternation of full and empty, of building and garden, of exterior and interior spaces. Thus, gardens penetrate the heart of the project.
All the site’s locations have not only an unencumbered view of the landscape, but in addition the possibility of direct access to gardens, as well as to a continuous, protected platform running along the perimeter of the building. The pathways are large curvatures that create a significant amount of fluidity among the spaces. The project draws in part on the natural slope of the site : with the building actually embedded into the slope, the roof becomes a natural extension of the land. Arriving by road, one perceives this continuity in the landscape as the roof gradually “detaches” itself from the site, allowing the project to develop in this in-between area.....more
