Saint Joseph Hospital
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Location
Paris, France -
Program
Private hospital
medical/surgical and obstetrics activities.
Restructuring of the hospital area and construction of two buildings.
760 beds and posts -
Area
38,000 m² of which 32,000 m² (new), 6 000 m² (restructured) -
Client
Fondation of Hospital St Joseph -
Status
Completed -
Cost
€67.8 excluding taxes €108 million excluding taxes for works -
Project Team
Commissioned architect: AIA Associés
Engineering and project economics: AIA Ingénierie
OPC: AIA Management -
Archidesignclub Award winner, "Health" category.Situated in Paris's 14th Arrondissement, the project has transformed a 53,000 m² 18th century residential hospital into a futuristic hospital village.
The Fondation Saint-Joseph's transformation has been ongoing for more than a decade, with its proposed amalgamation of three hospital institutions: the Saint-Joseph, the Notre-Dame de Bon Secours, and the Saint-Michel. It is re-imagining its care delivery system, re-organising its hospital areas and re-examining its presence in Paris.
Respecting the residential structure, the galleries, gardens as well as the preservation of the chapel have all enabled the preservation of its historical layout. A combination of memory of place and vital reconstruction, the architecture is both conciliatory and iconic. The design notes the historic footprint and establishes substitution as a rule for built change. The buildings take the place of existing architecture, thus retaining the readability of the original layout, both structured and open.
The focus of the institution becomes birth and childhood, the essential source of our social renewal, making the new maternity unit the midpoint on the site's central historical axis, positioned as close as possible to medical and technical infrastructure, and promoting the pooling of resources. With its immaculate white façade, graphically highlighted by its protective shutters, the facility becomes an emblem of a hospital located in the heart of the population.
The restructuring work within this ancient and confined site raised numerous issues, such as the recovery room beneath a vaulted chapel, or the channelling of the networks which required the almost daily presence of the OPC. In addition, the construction work at the heart of an operational hospital in central Paris and close to other hospital structures with different project owners made storage priorities an issue, and a 'just-in-time' approach was therefore favoured. The delivery of the pre-fabricated shower areas close to the façades (after switching off water and air supplies) also required fine planning.