New Shenzhen Children’s Hospital will be covered in sky gardens

B+H Architects, in a joint venture with East China Architectural Design & Research Institute (ECADI), has been selected as the winner of the competition to design the new Shenzhen Children’s Hospital and Science and Education Building. The building’s design will emphasize the collaboration between research, education, and patient care spaces.

The new hospital will be built to the west of the existing Shenzhen Children’s Hospital campus. It will take design cues from the surrounding mountains and adopt a gently terracing approach with the upper floors stepping back to allow the building to be covered in multiple sky gardens. A vertical “secret garden” will also be included to provide a distraction to patients and their families.

"Our vision is to ensure that the building’s occupants not only fully engage with the surrounding natural landscape, but that we create a unique micro-landscape within and around the building, from ground floor to rooftop gardens,” said Stephanie Costelloe, Principal and Director of Healthcare, Asia, in a release.

An “urban living room” on the ground floor will connect the hospital to the surrounding community and host a wide array of public spaces and activities for patients, visitors, and those just passing through. A colorful graphic of leaves will cover the canopy above, creating an aesthetic connection with the nearby park.

A cluster of social and interaction spaces for staff are provided at the northeast corner, creating a “social window” that connects to the park. Research is placed on the same floors as inpatient wards to provide proximity to patients with a “lab to bedside” approach while prioritizing collaboration between clinical staff, researchers, and students. A “collaboration zone” is located at the junction of the ward and research zones that will house formal and informal education and social spaces for the staff. Additionally, staff living spaces will be included on the upper floors.