Box Hill Hospital Redevelopment

By ahhb
Friday, 19 December, 2014

“The success of this transformational project illustrates how a carefully developed roadmap to the future can revitalize an aging hospital campus, to deliver contemporary best practice health care to the community it serves.”

The Box Hill Hospital redevelopment provides new operating theatres, wards and specialist clinical facilities.

The main entry lobby and central atrium is the heart of the hospital that links the old and the new Hospital buildings. The atrium is a key wayfinding element in directing and orientating visitors within the Hospital. An oversized canopy into the atrium clearly identifies the entry point and visibly leads visitors directly to the reception or lifts connecting the upper floors.

The central atrium also signifies a contemporary calming environment. Visitors are greeted by soaring ceilings, flooded with natural light, inspiring a sense of optimism and hope. ‘Bunjil’ the eagle stands sentinel at 2.8 metres tall commanding the atrium; an impressive sculpture, carved by indigenous artist, Glenn Romanis, from a sugar gum tree.

Bold exterior colour is used to great effect. A strong green to the façade surrounding the inner courtyard contrasts dramatically to fractured grey tones on the outer façade of the Hospital. The green colour references the original homestead and gardens on the Hospital site donated to provide for the original Hospital in the 1950s.

An innovative bedroom design maximises staff vision into the room and also the patient’s view out of the building. This is achieved via a combined inboard and outbound ensuite layout with carefully positioned bedhead to ensure a calming external view is achieved. Many of the bedrooms have a day bed located at the window to maximise the connection with the exterior environment and provide overnight accomodation.

The staff have been a focus in the design because of their importance in providing improved health care delivery. A key design inclusion is the positioning of staff rooms away from public zones and capturing external outlook to nature to achieve a calming breakout environment.

A connection to nature is promoted through the provision of a variety of courtyards suited to different needs and users who benefit greatly from the ability to ‘escape’ outdoors. The paediatric courtyard is a fun and colourful space for children. The oncology courtyard has imposing sculptural ‘trees’ that frame beautiful views from its fourth floor location. The central staff courtyard features a striking black and white tiled ‘break out’ area surrounded by a multi-patterned green facade.

The reference to a box leaf in the original hospital crest and the emphasis on green spaces resulted in a leaf design being incorporated into the project’s logo. The design also features in Hospital signage, decorative timber panels, sculpture and other artworks.

A fun graphic design element is Rebok the Cat who became the Project Team’s mascot after he decided to move into the onsite project office. After adoption by one of the Project members, he became embodied in the Hospital graphics. Along the path of the Hospital’s education tour for school children, STH Interiors incorporated 8 ginger, 1 grey and 2 meer cats incorporated into the graphics.

The project was undertaken by the architects Silver Thomas Hanley (STH) in a partnership with Jackson Architecture.