The new hospital will have 450 primary care beds. At the same time it will be part of a large ensemble of service facilities, including a social centre for families, a health and wellbeing centre as well as the new Malmi school centre. Our entry ”Puutarhat” (”The gardens”) received first prize in the competition. The idea of a ”nature hospital” had been one of the starting points from the beginning and thus the heart of the complex is made up of an evergreen central courtyard. Rehabilitation is present everywhere, not only in the areas reserved for it. Apart from being just a hospital, it will also be an important public building in the centre of Malmi. The provided spaces, lobbies and foyers, routes and passageways, as well as the vegetation of the internal courtyards and gardens, all contribute to the humane and healing atmosphere. Natural light and natural materials have been exploited by using guidelines from recent evidence-based research material. The aim has been to create surroundings that will tempt the patients to leave their rooms for additional exercise.

The hospital will relate to the surrounding townscape with the help of facades made of bricks and wood as well as the abundance of trees. It shows respect to the Malmi brick church by having its lowest masses in its southernmost part closest to the church.

The functional room programme is translated into an ensemble where, within the modular structural framework, there is spatial clarity, easy orientation and flexibility. It has, however, been divided up into smaller entities in order to make the scale more humane and easier to grasp for patients, staff and visitors alike.

The amount of natural light is maximised everywhere in the building and nature is strongly present also because of the views to the internal courtyard gardens. The foyers of the buildings form pleasant surroundings for feeling better but also for working. The length of dark corridors has been minimized and art is used for the purposes of healing as well as wayfinding. The main entrance foyers contain public space where events for patients and outsiders can be organised. The foyers thus become seamless extensions to the surrounding public urban areas. The organised rehabilitation spaces as well as the teaching spaces are also connected to these foyers.

The gross floor area of the building is 63 000m2. The air-conditioning units are located in innovative ”greenhouses” which are used for heat recovery and in order to give the building an instantly recognisable identity within the townscape. The dimensioning and the technical systems will facilitate the use of hospital robots in the future.

In the choice of building materials low carbon products are preferred. The different separate layers in the strucure of the facades provide substantial depth which reduces direct sunlight and provides shade, thus passively improving the energy-efficiency. The modularity and detailed design take circular economy into account, thus facilitating the reuse of building parts in the future.

These and many other factors produce a tapestry which connects functional and technical requirements with nature and the built environment in a seamless way. We are hoping that our approach to hospital design will be a major trendsetter for future hospitals.

Our large multi-disciplinary competition team consisted of:

Trevor Harris, professor, Architect SAFA
Hannu Louna, architect SAFA
Aino Raatikka, architect SAFA
Mikko Sinervo, architect SAFA

Sasu Hälikkä, architect SAFA
Janne Kivelä, architect SAFA
Hennu Kjisik, professor, Ph.D. (tech.), architect SAFA
Markus Kuusela, architect SAFA
Joseph Mulcahy, architect SAFA
Susanna Kalkkinen, architect SAFA (only during stage 1)

EXPERTS
Pentti Kareoja, professor, architect SAFA

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
Nomaji Landscape Architects
Varpu Mikola landscape architect MARK
Mari Ariluoma landscape architect MARK
Hertta Ahvenainen landscape architect MARK
Anni Hietanen student, landscape architecture
Sari Åstrand landscape architect MARK
Anni Järvitalo landscape architect MARK
Riikka Nousiainen landscape architect MARK

STRUCTURAL DESIGN
Ramboll Finland Oy
Jyrki Ketonen
Esa Ikäheimonen
Emil Jansson

GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING
GeoUnion Oy
Markku Savolainen
Rockplan / FInnmap Infra Oy
Miika Kalliokari

HVAC DESIGN
Sitowise Oy
Sakari Sipola

FIRE SAFETY
Jensen Hughes Finland Oy
Aleksi Ojala
Samuli Heikkilä
Anton Huovinen

ELECTRICAL DESIGN
Rejlers Rakentaminen Oy
Tapio Kilpimaa
Mika Lamminen
Jukka Nurmi

TRAFFIC
Sitowise Oy
Esa Hartman

VISUALISATION (EXTERIOR)
Voima Graphics Oy