Great Ormond Street Hospital Facade

Great Ormond Street Hospital Facade

The hospital has been undergoing steady renewal and development for many years, and behind the outer façade of rather dated buildings on the Great Ormond Street, many new state of the art healthcare spaces have been created. The development programme is now set to replace the range of buildings along Great Ormond Street.

  • Great Ormond Street Hospital Facade 1
  • Great Ormond Street Hospital Facade 1

Our study proposes a way of building therapeutic spaces, wards, admin offices and a rooftop school to create a striking façade and entrance befitting the global status of the hospital. A colonnade at ground floor collects pedestrians from both directions along the street and creates much needed drop-off space. A hexagonal geometry governs the elevation taking in the colonnade, the lofty entrance and the variety of private and semi-private spaces behind the façade.

  • Great Ormond Street Hospital Facade 1
  • Great Ormond Street Hospital Facade 2

The façade is made up of precast units of four types with different sizes of openings. Two of the types have the opening set asymmetrically so that simply by rotating the unit, six different arrangements of window can be configured within the hexagon to suit the rooms.

  • Great Ormond Street Hospital Facade 1

The geometry is resonant of soap bubbles, bee hives and also the chemical notation of neuro-transmitters. The design explores how a children’s hospital could be like a palace with a sense of the fantastical.

  • Great Ormond Street Hospital Facade 1
Status
Competition
Completion Date
2016