A quality collaboration among the various disciplines resulted in Fiona Stanley Hospital receiving the highest honour at the AIA Awards– the George Temple Poole Award.
Fiona Stanley Hospital sets a new benchmark for health in Western Australia, delivering the highest standards of medical care within a world-class design context.
The delivery of the $2 billion project was made possible by a collaboration of the state’s most talented architects and landscape architects – the Fiona Stanley Hospital Design Collaboration.
“The hospital has been designed as a naturally healing environment, responsive to complex functional needs but with a focus on the human considerations of scale, natural light, texture and environment,” says Hassell principal Jeff Menkens.
Brenden Kelly, also a principal at Hassell, says that the hospital achieves a new standard in ‘green’ health-care design for the state. “The client and design team took a holistic approach to sustainability for this project, and the scale and number of initiatives we have adopted are unprecedented for a public precinct in (Western Australia),” says Brenden Kelly. He went on to note that the focus on the hospital being a place aimed at patient recovery and on supporting the staff is what makes the design so successful.
The value of evidence-based design in a holistic sense was an integral aspect of the Hassell approach, with the architecture and landscape architecture designed with the idea of making patients feel more at ease and reduce recovery time, and provide social and economic benefits.
The facades are inspired by the strong geometric forms, textures and colours of banksia cones found in the surrounding woodlands, while natural light has been integrated strategically within zones of the building to create a naturally healing aesthetic.
In addition to the main hospital structure, Hassell was involved in the design of The State Rehabilitation Service at the precinct.
The 140 bed, purpose-built facility enhances the delivery of a ‘first class’ rehabilitation service, ultimately offering higher quality tertiary level care for rehabilitation patients and their specific needs.
A high number of ‘perimeter hungry’ rooms results in a high facade to floor plate ratio and the creation of internal courtyards and screened roof terraces. The use of materials familiar to a domestic context was due to the longer stay expected for most rehabilitation patients. The philosophy for the wrapping and layering the facade reflects rehabilitation as a journey and process.
Similarly, the Adult Mental Health Unit has been designed to create an environment that will assist patient recovery while operating in an environmentally sustainable fashion. The design and operation of the facility will reduce energy consumption, greenhouse emissions and water use through the implementation of numerous initiatives such as passive solar design principals, high-efficiency facades, optimum use of natural light and low energy lighting, sanitary fixtures, and a co-generation centralised plant to capture and reuse waste heat.
Despite its considerable size, being the single largest building project undertaken by the state of Western Australia, the multi award-winning project was delivered ahead of time and on budget.
For more information on the state-of- the-art Fiona Stanley Hospital project, view the video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro4UyiMPs48
PROJECT PROFILE
Fiona Stanley Hospital
ARCHITECT | Fiona Stanley Design Collaboration comprising HASSELL, Silver Thomas Hanley, and Hames Sharley
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT | Hassell
BUILDER | Brookfield Multiplex
BRIEF | To design an innovative, state-of-the-art hospital that took into consideration environment and context, health planning, future proofing and expansion, and that created a strong sense of place and identity.
FEATURES | 24-hour quaternary acute care including emergency services, advanced diagnostic and laboratory services, medical, surgical, obstetric and paediatric services, together with extensive teaching, and research facilities, and the new State Rehabilitation Hospital.
LOCATION | 11 Robin Warren Drive, Murdoch