Overlooking Victoria Park in Herston, Brisbane, the recently completed Surgical Treatment and Rehabilitation Service building by Hassell avoids the sterile, clinical environments often associated with healthcare environments, instead offering a welcoming setting immersed in the natural environment.
It’s the first building to be completed as part of the wider redevelopment of Herston Quarter – an expansive health and wellbeing precinct masterplanned and designed by Hassell.
The nine-storey 35,000-sqaure-metre building, delivered as a public-private partnership for clients Australian Unity with Metro North Hospital and Health Service, delivers 182 patient beds, 100 specialist rehabilitation beds and 56 surgical inpatient beds.
Surgical Treatment and Rehabilitation Service facility by Hassell.
Image:
Scott Burrows
Project leader Kevin Lloyd explained that the masterplan for the precinct responds to existing heritage buildings at the core of the site, including the Robin Smith Dods-designed Lady Lamington Nurses’ Home, constructed over three stages between 1896 and 1931, the late Victorian-era Lady Norman building, the 1920s Edith Cavell building and, and the Spanish Mission-style Lady Lamington towers, constructed between 1936 and 1939.
“We had this collection of really lovely building that were all underutilized and our thinking was about how we could bring life back into the heart of the campus, by activating the heritage core and bringing new users into the site,” said Lloyd.
Surgical Treatment and Rehabilitation Service facility by Hassell.
Image:
Scott Burrows
Around the edges of the site, the masterplan calls for a series of new buildings. The STARS building sits on the south-eastern corner, addressing Herston Road and mediating between the street level and the upper-level heritage core, a level change of around 25 metres.
A series of subtle level changes and pedestrian throughfares running through the building offer direct access to landscaped outdoor areas and form connections to the heritage buildings and future buildings planned to the west of STARS. Sitting between the STARS building and the future buildings, a staircase integrated with the landscape, known as the Spanish Steps, will lead from street level to the heritage core.
“It’s a kind of transitional movement, where you move through the landscape up towards the higher points,” said Lloyd. “The stair connection is in line with Herston Station, so you can come out of that station and go directly into the STARS building off Herston Road, or you can continue up the staircase and it takes you either into the Heritage core, or you can move into a transitional level that heads into the main body of the hospital.”
High traffic areas such as outpatient clinics and the day surgery are located on the building’s lower levels for ease of mobility, while inpatient areas are on higher floors with direct access to the landscaped outdoor decks.
Surgical Treatment and Rehabilitation Service facility by Hassell.
Image:
Scott Burrows
Therapy gyms and recovery areas are integrated with the 100 rehabilitation beds and positioned along the Herston Road facade to maximize views and light and support patients through their rehabilitation.
As well as connecting to the heritage buildings through subtle spatial planning, the STARS building references design features of the historic buildings in its built form.
“The expression of the base of the elevation relates back to some of the modelling within the Lamington Tower buildings,” said Lloyd. “It’s obviously a new building but there’s a reference back to the past.”
A landscape courtyard sits at the heart of the STARS building and every part of building has been designed to have some connection to landscape.
“As you move around the edge of the building you’re constantly referencing back to the landscape,” said Lloyd “When you’re within the building, you can orientate yourself by your position and your relationship back to the courtyard.”
“That feeds into the psychological effects of connecting with landscape and the importance of that connection to patients’ recuperation. That whole thinking process is really, really important and that’s going to be present not just in the STARS building, but all future aspects of the masterplan.”
The $340 million STARS facility opened to patients in March.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
