Aarhus University - Aarhus, Denmark
Replacement Hospital
Conceptual Design Competition

The site design strategy for the New University Hospital in Aarhus is fundamentally about creating a hospital campus, a Hospital City of sorts that is sited within a large park. The park contains a varied landscape that gives both form and identity to the hospital campus as a whole, while also providing benefits to Aarhus as a destination unto itself. Each of the 6 Blocks of the new hospital and the existing hospital derive their identity and sense of place from the distinct healing gardens, parks, walks, and plazas that make up the campus, as well as the streets, boulevards and neighborhoods that make up the hospital(s). The distinct geometry and form of the hospital reinforces connections with the landscape as the fingers of the patient blocks extend into the landscape and in turn allow the landscape into the hospital – pavilions set within a garden. Exercise paths and walks through the site serve a functional use for recovering patients and family members, but are also about maintaining wellness within a holistic environment and a larger community.