Foster + Partners has unveiled their design scheme for the Magdi Yacoub Global Heart Centre Cairo hospital in Egypt that will focus on connecting patients with nature to boost their wellbeing.
Now under construction in Cairo, the 300-bed hospital is situated within what is described as a “lush, verdant landscape” that offers views of a lake and the Egyptian pyramids and features a prominent shell-like roofscape.
In developing the scheme, Foster + Partners adopted principles of biophilic design, which seeks to satisfy people’s physical and emotional need for nature by integrating the natural world and natural materials. As such, the hospital maximizes outward views in an effort to help speed up patient recovery time optimizing the spaces for natural light and interrelationships with greenery. The interior spaces will be unified by a “soft and warm” material palette that references the history of Egypt.
“This is a special project that focuses on giving the best care to the patients and offering them the best natural setting to recover in. It brings together the latest research on biophilia and the positive impact of nature in clinical settings with our pioneering work on collaborative working environments that allow healthcare professionals to give the best care.”
Nigel Dancey, head of studio at Foster + Partners
Magdi Yacoub Global Heart Centre Cairo will be accessed via a walkable plaza with a shaded paths and an entrance marked by a canopy. The multifunctional ground floor will accommodate an accident and emergency department, a large outpatient clinic, diagnosis and treatment facilities as well as rehabilitative spaces.
The first floor of the hospital will host, the surgical department of the hospital which is intended to facilitate collaboration between researches and caregivers. Also on the first floor are the intensive care units, which have been designed to help with recovery by offering complete privacy, natural daylight and views out to a lake.
The upper floors of the hospital will be divided up into the in-patient wards, each containing a mix of single and shared patient rooms, topped by the sculptural roof structures and above a plant-filled terrace interwoven around the second floor. This terrace will serves as staff and visitor break-out spaces, punctured by a series of courtyards that bring natural light into the depths of the buildings. A staff canteen as well as a number of support spaces for families and educational rooms for visiting students are also accommodated within the hospital.
Once complete, Magdi Yacoub Global Heart Centre Cairo will provide free treatment for underprivileged people living in Egypt. It is being constructed adjacent the Zewail City of Science and Technology university to create an “integrated health and medical research zone” and will also be open to visits by students for educational purposes.
“Aswan Heart Centre offers state-of-the-art, free-of-charge medical services to the Egyptian people, particularly the underprivileged. Lush and verdant, this oasis of paths and parks promotes wellbeing. With its passive design strategy, it is an exemplar of sustainability, responding to the needs of patients and to its locale.”
Foster + Partners founder, Norman Foster