Category: Institutional Projects
Honourable Mention
Jury citation:
“The project is notable for its Green Integration; the consistent use of ‘green’ and landscape to connect within itself and to a larger health care facility, the Khoo Teck Phuat Hospital.
The employment of green throughout the project, such as the ‘greening’ of the exterior of the wards, corridors and axis where vistas meet, is handled with precision and exactitude so that there is no wasteful use of landscaping and every space is optimized for the experience of its users.
The judges were impressed with the refined articulation of the naturally ventilated interior façade, resulting in an intimate scale and tactile warmth. The jury panel unanimously agrees to award the project, an Honourable Mention.”
YCH is conceptualised from the traditional equatorial (kampong) and the healing benefits of its relationship with biodiversity and community. Elements were also adopted from the local vernacular (shades, screen, apertures, verandas) to provide elderly users with familiarity to aid in emotional wellness and serve as passive design strategies in the local climate through porosity.
This extends to a macro scale, as YCH’s first two storeys are raised to function as a community space and a naturally porous lower register of the building which the public can access freely in order to keep patients linked to their communities during their stay; this, coupled with maximisation of views to gardens on the ground floor atrium and feature enviro-deck ensure patients always find proximity to nature.
The challenge of YCH was its function as part of a larger medical campus with the existing KTPH. Hence, planning of YCH took into account preserving and enhancing the existing user experience of the area. This included continuing the healing garden concept from KTPH; a “green walk” ‘pulls’ greenery from Yishun Pond into KTPH and culminates in a balcony of greenery on the 5th storey of YCH.
Furthermore, as a community hospital, YCH serves as a model of care for those who are fit for discharge from an acute care hospital but require convalescent and rehabilitative care that would allow the patient to be slowly reintroduced to his original way of life. The development of this model of care necessitated a highly participatory model of design, not only for the planning of spaces for administration but to formulate effective spatial relations between rehabilitation, care and rest.
Finally, in order to minimise disturbance to KTPH during construction, a hybrid structural system comprised of precast concrete columns with steel beams and steel floor decking allowed for offsite fabrication.
