Professor John Dyson spent more than 25 years at GlaxoSmithKline, eventually ending his career as VP, Head of Capital Strategy and Design, where he focussed on developing a long-term strategic approach to asset management..
‘It doesn’t look like a hospital,’ she says, ‘so it puts them at ease as soon as they walk in… There’s a smell to hospitals.Whereas when you walk in here, you’ve got the smell of the deli, of the food, of coffee.’.
Martin Wood describes the concentration for the design of the hospital as being on efficiency of flow, in a way that ‘owes more to manufacturing processes, owes more to buildings that are directly about efficiency in outcome.’ However, he notes that at Circle this doesn’t compromise the user experience in the least.‘Emphasis on value,’ he says, ‘does not necessarily mean that it precludes the use of interesting architectural form.’ Rather, the opposite.The atrium aids with facilitating natural and easy way-finding, says Wood, adding that the building’s concentration on flow efficiency, as well as the sense of legibility the space provides, actually lends itself to a reduction in stress.
‘Everything is self explanatory,’ he says.‘There is no need for signs.
It’s very evident where you might go for your consultation, or go to diagnostics, or in fact, go up to prepare for an operation…’.
‘You can feel that it’s like the hub,’ says Adam Chivers, commenting on the central functionality of the atrium.Having all data centralised in a BIM model provides instant access to both the cost and availability of a project’s components, and creates a more direct relationship with the supply chain cutting down transaction costs..
Reduced programme:.The design of each assembly and junction can be pre-tested and individually certified to Passivhaus standards before being included within any design.
This approach facilitates the pre-certification of components, panelised systems, building systems for thermal/hygrothermal/airtightness performance, reducing design time and programme..The repetition of detailing between projects means that a design library of pre-certified components is retained for future projects, making the design process more efficient and quicker..
(Editor: Budget Gaming)