Winterthur Cantonal Hospital

Building health

The keys were handed over in October 2021: The completion of the planning and construction process for the new replacement building for Winterthur Cantonal Hospital, which lasted over ten years. A highly complex project that demanded patience and a willingness to constantly consider new solutions from everyone involved. The planning consortium RA|B (Rapp Architekten/Butscher Architekten) from Basel, which won the architectural competition in 2010, is responsible for the design and general planning of the new replacement building. The architects developed a master plan that meets the needs of the healthcare scene. The new building gives the hospital a new face to the city and is geared towards the constantly changing requirements of modern hospital architecture. The focus is always on people, patients and staff alike.

Photo © Roman Weyeneth

Didymos project
The origins of Winterthur Cantonal Hospital (KSW) date back to 1874. A new concept from 1958 by architect Edwin Bosshardt still determines the basic structure of the site today: a ward block facing south towards the city and examination and treatment wings arranged at the rear in an extensive park landscape. In 1968, the construction of a high-rise hospital building marked a significant expansion step. Initially built as a solitary building, it was later given a connecting wing to the hospital complex, which was followed by further extensions and additions. The hospital landscape that had grown over the years became increasingly confusing and dysfunctional. As a technical and structural renovation of the high-rise hospital building did not offer a sustainable solution, an architectural competition was held in 2010 for the construction of a new replacement building. The winning design by Basel-based planning consortium RA|B Architekten takes up the typology of the 1958 building and envisages a twin building – hence the competition name “Didymos”, Greek for “twin”. Together with the Bosshardt building, it forms a health center that takes future developments into account. Its urban orientation towards the city clarifies the appearance of the hospital complex and enables the revitalization of the park.

Functional and future-proof
The new replacement building consists of a ten-storey ward block, on the north side of which is an examination and treatment wing with seven wards. floors docks. At the center of the health center It acts as a hinge between old and new. This is also where the main entrance: From the spacious, in parts two-storey entrance hall, with central reception and registration, both the existing buildings and the new building are accessed via short routes.

The multifunctional examination and treatment rooms are located above the entrance hall. They are set back from the façade so that they can be adapted as easily and flexibly as possible to future uses. The resulting corridor provides separate access for patients and staff and can also be used as a work area. The operating theater is located on the fifth floor, with the technical floor above. Its construction as a bridge structure enables an almost column-free operating theater floor. “A central point of our planning was to design the new buildings flexibly with regard to future changes in requirements and developments in medical technology,” explains architect Christoph Butscher. “We therefore designed a skeleton structure with load-bearing access cores, which provides for a consistent separation of the load-bearing structure and extensions.”

Photo © Roman Weyeneth

Photo © Roman Weyeneth

Photo © Roman Weyeneth

The new face to the city
Like the building from the 1950s, the new, striking ward block faces south, towards the park and the city, and its beige-brown travertine cladding matches the tone and style of the façade of the existing building. In addition to wards and a spacious cafeteria with differentiated lounge areas and a partially covered outdoor terrace in the park, other functional areas such as nephrology/dialysis and the building department are housed here.

At first glance, furnishing almost all rooms as single rooms seems luxurious, but in the end it proves to be more economical. It has been proven that patients recover more quickly in single rooms and that bed utilization is more flexible. The bright patient rooms with their large windows face south and the park. Their furnishings are both functional and homely. High-quality, carefully selected materials such as natural wood veneer and colors were used, which have a positive effect on the recovery process.

The pleasant indoor climate also contributes to this. The air conditioning and ventilation systems were planned by Hochstrasser Glaus & Partner Consulting GmbH, Wattwill. The ClimaLevel Multiboden is installed in all 270 patient rooms, which conducts both heating and cooling energy as well as fresh air into the rooms. The innovative climate floor combines conventional underfloor heating with airflow and is as responsive as it is energy-efficient. In addition, the sophisticated ventilation technology ensures a constantly optimal room climate, which prevents the unpleasant side effects of classic air conditioning systems such as draughts or “cold lakes” on the floor. In the health and care sector, the system has proven its efficiency at the “Centrum Integrativer Medizin” in Koblenz, the Zollinger Foundation’s senior citizens’ residence in Zurich and the Graubünden Cantonal Hospital in Chur, among others.

“Conventional air conditioning systems would have been far too energy-intensive,” explains general planner Christoph Butscher. The new replacement building for Winterthur Cantonal Hospital is one of the first hospitals in German-speaking Switzerland to be built to the Minergie-P-ECO standard. Meeting the necessary requirements is quite a challenge, especially for such an energy-intensive and complex building as a hospital. “The ClimaLevel Multiboden airconditions the patient rooms very effectively with relatively low energy consumption. It has proved its worth in the past very hot summers. And very importantly, it meets the extremely high hygiene requirements in the healthcare sector. It was therefore the perfect solution for us.”

Everything on schedule
After three years of operation of the extended health center, the feedback from staff and patients is consistently positive. The dismantling of the old high-rise hospital building and the final exterior work will be completed at the end of the year. Despite all the challenges, the ambitious project, which cost a total of CHF 360 million, was completed on time and on budget.

“We are very proud that our Multiboden has proven itself in such a demanding project. This shows its potential for the air conditioning of healthcare facilities and retirement homes.”

Uwe Kemmer
Managing Director ClimaLevel Energiesysteme