New Karolinska Solna Project

New Karolinska Solna project Building the hospital of the future with a Scandinavian design approach With an ageing hospital not fit for the demands of a modern healthcare service, Stockholm County Council wanted to create a new facility that would give their patients an improved experience and better support interdisciplinary collaboration. The New Karolinska Solna project (NKS) not only needed to fulfil these healthcare requirements, but also needed to find place in the growing suburbs of Stockholm city. White Arkitekter won the competition to design the project. They joined forces with Tengbom to meet the complex architectural challenges of a project of this magnitude, creating a powerful collaboration between two architecture practices with a history of delivering successful civic projects. A therapeutic and clinical approach With architecture and design known to play a key role in delivering therapeutic and clinical outcomes the team uses daylight, outdoor greenery, colours and art to create a caring and easily orientated environment. A rich colour palette gives each building its own identity and daylight floods into the patient and treatment rooms that run along the facades, fostering wellbeing – a typical Scandinavian approach. On a clinical level, a safe and attractive environment is the main objective. All rooms are for single patient use and there is space for relatives to stay overnight. Materials and details have been carefully selected with their hygienic qualities in mind, as have logistical decisions such as using separated flows for the transportation of goods. These therapeutic benefits are enhanced with one of the largest public art investments ever made in Sweden. Artists created their pieces in close collaboration with the architecture and interior design concepts to create sculptures, paintings and objects that help patient recovery and provide attractive spaces for staff and visitors. Putting people first To deliver these benefits it was important for the team to put the people who would gain the most first – the patients. The design considers how they use the space to create a facility that respects privacy, promotes comfort and ensures safety. The light, airy, single-occupancy rooms come with an en-suite bathroom and can accommodate an additional bed for relatives or friends to stay over, which all help to encourage recovery. The rooms are big enough to allow the clinical teams to meet patients in private and medical equipment pales into the interior, with vital technical access points hidden in the bed-head panel. Beyond patients, the NKS project considers visitors and professionals, providing them with high-quality public meeting spaces inside and out that use Scandinavian and sustainable materials in a timeless manner. A city hospital with new opportunity for collaboration For staff the new flexible design brings together specialist clinicians in thematic diagnostic and treatment units covering cancer, cardiovascular, neurological, inflammatory, reparative medicine and paediatric/obstetric care. The general structure with its thematic organisation encourages interaction with colleagues across disciplines to reflect a patient focused interdisciplinary healthcare approach. The project is a part of an urban development plan that will transform Stockholm into a leader in life sciences. The location binds together other knowledge hubs within natural science and technology to enable greater co-operation. An evolving space This focus on the future extends to keeping up with the pace of change in the modern world. The design embraces flexibility so that the facilities can meet the healthcare demands of today as well as being fit for purpose in several decades time. The building is designed to be rebuilt and evolve. A general structure enables flexible and generic ways of working. Floor to floor height reflects the requirements of future medical equipment. While the width allows adaptable usage with advanced treatment methods and inpatient wards sited in the same building. Sustainability inbuilt This ability to reconfigure reduces the need for large refurbishment, bringing a layer of sustainability to the project. Hazard free building materials adds another layer. As do energy-efficient windows and facades plus needs-based lighting and ventilation. All this adds up to a super energy-efficient building that uses half the power of comparable hospitals. This multi-layered approach to sustainability led to the project receiving LEED GOLD certification and Gold in Environmentally Classified Building standard (Miljöbyggnad Guld). And the sustainability credentials are not limited to the building itself but also includes a social dimension. Outside, green space connects the hospital with its surroundings, making it easily accessible by bicycle or on foot and a tenth of parking spaces have an electric car charging post. Finding place in the wider landscape And it’s outside where NKS really finds its place as part of a wider urban design project. Before, the facility was cut off from the growing city centre by a multi-lane highway. Now, the road has been decked over and an entirely new neighbourhood links the hospital with downtown Stockholm. A subway station with direct access to the main entrance is under construction and will further improve connections. While proximity to institutions like Stockholm University, The Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm School of Economics help to realise the vision of becoming a leader in life sciences. At 12-storeys high, the new building stands above the current skyline. But as the new district takes shape it will blend into the denser and taller building infrastructure. This is no sleeping suburb. The urban development includes residentials in combination with life science hubs to create a vibrant, living community. From its carefully thought out interiors to its strategic location in the Stockholm landscape, the New Karolinska Solna project, providing Karolinska University Hospital with new buildings offers opportunities for integrity and interaction as well as addressing the demands of future hospital design.