Kungälv Hospital with a focus on prosperous people and a sustainable environment

When Kungälv hospital no longer could meet society’s care needs, a new planning process started to build a new building that would efficient and improve care, both for the staff and patients. The new hospital is decorated with idyllic pictures made of ceramics that will reflect the city and the river. The individual's integrity and solidarity have been emphasized by having built several single rooms, which then contributes to more well-being for the patients. With several single rooms, patients’ safety can also be increasing, and a decrease of spread infection becomes possible. With the help of GlasLindberg, SAPA's recycled aluminum facades and doors in Hydro CIRCAL have been delivered to the project. By using circular materials, the project emphasizes its sustainable thinking and thus minimizes the footprint on the environment. 

Source: Bert Leandersson

With the new renovation of Kungälv Hospital, a total of 10 care departments can now be found in the hospital. In collaboration with the former 1960s building, a new identity has been created for the hospital. The project radiates modernity and has a focus on a future vision where 280 care places will exist. The project for Kungälv Hospital has been run by Västfastigheter and the architects are Sweco and Aart arkitekter. Skanska is the construction contractor.

Well-being that can be seen through concrete art

The ambition with the hospital is that it should be effective and caring, regardless if they are patients, relatives or staff. This gave Sweco and Aart arkitekt a lot of valuation in when they planned the project.

-Together with Aart, we have had the ambition to create a care environment that conveys that there is an awareness of both children's and adults' needs and that the family is in safe hands. Throughout the project, we have worked in a structured and creative way where the focus has been on creating well-functioning environments, says Pernilla Nordén, responsible architect at Sweco.

The patients’ rooms has with the help of two artists, created a charismatic and familiar feeling for each room, where ceramic tiles with motives adorn the walls. The theme for the art has been the city (Kungälv) and the river that flows through. When the patients are in the rooms, the concept of the art is that it can create a conversation between individuals, furthermore, will this create a sense of belonging. This goes to prove of the strong caring idea that is in the core of this project.

The design of the new building is the connection to the old building, which creates beautiful courtyards with a unique feel both to the patients and care staff. There is also a new foyer where various events can be coordinated. The green outdoor environments in combination with light input can also be enjoyed from inside the patient rooms through the large windows. The captivating surroundings that the hospital has can also be viewed from the windows where Bohuslän's beautiful landscape is in focus.

Sustainable environments are in focus

The architects have placed great emphasis on starting from a life cycle perspective, which has been reflected in the hospital's facade. Here, too, the architects spin that the facade should radiate care, warmth, and consideration. This has thus given a remarkable result and received the certification Miljöbyggnad Guld.

-Even with the external design, the goal has been for the building to breathe warmth, care and consideration. The facade material is robust and consists of prefabricated concrete where the architects have created a variety and richness of detail, a lightly ground concrete meets a gray grooved concrete. To enable a future renovation, the window replacement is well balanced. The façade design also considers the high goals for the building's energy consumption and for being able to be certified according to Miljöbyggnad Guld, says Sweco.

During the building construction, active work has been done regarding sorting of waste so that nothing would go to landfill, however instead 67% of all waste was recycled and 33% was combustible. With the help of GlasLindberg, SAPA's aluminum facades and doors have been delivered to the project. The products are manufactured by Hydro CIRCAL with at least 75% recycled aluminum from, for example, previous facades and windows that were subsequently dismantled from buildings. The melting process of Hydro CIRCAL aluminum consumes only 5% of the energy required for primary aluminum production. This circular material generates a 4 times lower climate footprint then the European average.

Solidarity and individual rooms are going to strengthen the integrity

Kungälv Hospital's previous premises were lacking in having limited number of single rooms for the patients, which then became one of the needs that the new premises would meet. During the planning process, a group of individuals got to be involved and opinionized about current functionalities, furniture, and consumables. This has contributed to improvements that have been made early in the planning and has created a more efficient working environment. For example, there is now a tube post where blood samples and blood bags are collected, which reduces the running for the care staff.

-Thanks to a full-scale model of a care room during the process, it has been possible to test, evaluate and improve the rooms' function and design. An important part of the assignment has been to work on the basis of different scales where the hospital's operations have a central role in how the building has been designed, says Sweco.

With the single rooms, has this made an increased patient safety possible. The spread of various viruses is drastically reduced with the help of a separate room, bathroom, and toilet. The interplay between privacy and social interaction also becomes significantly greater when the care staff now can have undisturbed conversations with the patients and their relatives. A silent alarm has also been installed at the hospital and the right care staff can be reached directly by the patient without major running and noise in the corridors.

Facts:

SAPA-Products: Facade SAPA 4150 and door SAPA 2086

SAPA-producers: GlasLindberg

Architects: Sweco & Aart arkitekt

Photographer: Bert Leandersson