Client
Helsebygg Midt-Norge
Function
University hospital with laboratories, teaching and research
Discipline
Responsible projecting ARK, Professional project management
The centre is located in the southeast corner of the hospital area, and is connected to the woman and child centre, located towards the north, by a bridge. The other three sides of the centre are surrounded by parks and older residential and hospital buildings.
The building volumes of the centre reflect the main interior functions. The centre contains approximately equally sized areas for the hospital and the university college, and these appear as two general wings located on each side of the plot, the west and east wing. The middle wing is located in the north, between the main wings. This is designed as a tower and contains communal functions such as entrance/lobby, library and auditoriums/seminar rooms. The space between the main wings is encased in glass and contains the horizontal connection between all floors via bridges. The glass building partially includes the middle wing. Also, a glass building in the middle of the main wings contains the horizontal connection between the three upper floors.
The slats forming the west and east wing are covered in red brick, as the laboratory centre is located in the older, red brick construction. The brick is also drawn into the glass-enclosed space in the middle to emphasise the build-up of volume. Inside the brick is processed artistically, which also takes care of the acoustics. In parts of the ground floor and first floor, and throughout the withdrawn fourth floor, the cladding is sinus plates and hot-dip galvanized grates. Large glass facades in the blood bank have artistic ornamentation in order to block visibility while letting light in. This ornamentation is made by artist Katrine Skavlan.
The middle wing is built from supporting concrete slabs, clad with patinated zinc in a shell cladding. The goal was to give this part of the centre a distinctive expression externally as well as internally, in order to appear as a characteristic reference point in relation to the more general building parts.
One has also emphasised consistency in the ground paving between interior and exterior areas. The cobblestone paving in front of the entrance and in the external courtyard is carried through the lobby area in the form of a more finely ground natural stone. The paving pattern outside and inside, as well as the interior brick facades, are designed by artist Edith Lundebrekke as part of the artistic ornamentation of the building.
Great emphasis is placed on consistent use of materials in all parts of the building, also in the relationship between facade materials and interior materials. In addition to painted plaster walls and linoleum floors in the general areas, there are many elements of oak in furniture, office walls, special furnishings and hardwood floors, oiled steel in internal glass areas, as well as in supporting constructions and main staircases in the lobby and hot-dip galvanized steel in internal ceilings. There are mostly suspended ceilings in corridors and some special areas – otherwise the acoustics are taken care of through glued-on ceiling boards.
The most resources have been put into the interior of the middle wing, with an extensive use of oak in floors and fixtures. The supporting concrete slabs are exposed internally, and together with the oak surfaces they form the main expression of the interior.
A lot of work has been put into the principles for furnishing the laboratory areas. Most laboratory furnishings not hanging on walls, are mounted on free-standing aluminium columns fastened in ceilings and floors. The columns are especially developed for this project, and they also serve as guide channels.
