HIS new tech

Delivered at the end of 2019 to the Iris Sud Hospitals, the new medical-technical building (11.470 m² configured as ground floor + 5/-2), completes the new organisation of the Etterbeek-Ixelles hospital site.

This completes a long process essentially based on 4 major operations:

• the development of a maternity & mother-child unit
• a new central production kitchen
• a new administrative & reception building
• underground car parks for visitors

The new medical-technical block is located in the interior of the block, at the rear of the site.
This complex covers more than 22.200 m². In addition to staff parking and logistics facilities (levels -1 and -2), the new block houses a surgical day hospital with 4 operating theatres (level 0), an intensive care unit with 9 workstations (level +1), an operating theatre with 4 operating theatres (level +2), a central sterilisation department (level +3), a top floor (level +4) that has not yet been allocated, and a technical cabin on the roof (level +5). A portion of level -1, partially above ground, is intended to accommodate a crèche, and a zone currently delivered as a floor level with only the shell completed.

organisation: flexibility, modularity and compactness

In view of the virtually constant need for modification/renovation, the new medical-technical building  has been conceived to be flexible and modular. This will reduce the number of technical constraints during later modifications.

Thus:

• the facades, executed in a beam-post structure with breeze-block infill, can be pierced at a later date to create new openings easily
• an “external skin” of louvres provides a sunshade and visual filter function and frees up the interaction between the external architecture and the internal program
• the new building is connected to the existing building by two walkways. This arrangement creates varied connections and a differentiated flow management. This allows for greater flexibility in the medical-technical block and the possibility of creating specific services on each floor
• the surgical day hospital is a “fast track” facility. Compact and entirely established on the ground floor, on the same level as the main entrance, it requires only short horizontal circulations for patients. It thus facilitates both internal movements (changing rooms/operations /recovery /rest) and the flow of arrivals /departures. Furthermore, the technical and logistical premises occupy residual surfaces, to the benefit of the spaces dedicated to care. The central sterilisation unit is vertically aligned with all the departments that it serves. Waste is evacuated directly via the basements
• the intensive care unit is located in the continuity of the emergency department, which will is due to be renovated in the near future, and the operating theatre is connected to the hospital ward by a functional link dedicated to bedridden patients
• the interior design creates a timeless atmosphere-reflecting the mood of the occupants (carers/patients)-characterised using white and light grey, punctuated by a few touches of colour and light wood motifs. In the same spirit of implementing colour psychology, the notion of hygiene, which is important in operating theatres, has been translated into blue purple. The “hope” expressed by the users of the intensive care unit has been translated into green, and “quality” has been translated as yellow

energy performance & certification

• insulation level K = 39 for the “nursery-teaching” area, compliance with U/R level requirements for the entire block
• airtightness-renewal under n50 of 1.0 volume/hour for the “nursery-teaching” zone & 1.5 for all other zones of the block

site plan before construction                                                         current layout plan