We worked in close partnership with the Kurdistan Regional Government to design this specialist referral centre in Erbil, Iraq. Our design is setting new standards for paediatric healthcare in a region with a severe shortage of facilities and appropriately trained staff.
The state-of-the-art hospital includes three operating rooms, an emergency ward, outpatient clinics, an intensive care unit, a women’s hospital and staff accommodation, plus a hotel and supermarket. We’ve designed these facilities around a dramatic central atrium, with the potential for wings to be added, extended and even moved as clinical requirements evolve over time.
The colourful atrium is a welcoming communal area, with stalls and shops that echo a market atmosphere, and each ward overlooks a calm rural landscape enhanced with therapeutic gardens. We relied on locally sourced materials, regional construction techniques and local workers to build the facility.
Not only does the new facility enable doctors to treat patients in a safe, efficient environment; it provides a place for local medical students to gain valuable clinical experience – one of the many reasons it won a High Commendation at the 2011 Design and Health International Academy Awards.
Child and infant mortality in Iraq is among the highest in the world. The Hewa Hope Children’s Hospital aims to establish healthcare intervention that will reduce child fatalities and provide the highest standards of healthcare in the country.
Central atrium
The colourful atrium is a welcoming communal area, with stalls and shops that echo a market atmosphere. Each ward overlooks a calm rural landscape enhanced with therapeutic gardens.
Wayfinding
The bright, vibrant colour scheme and large animal graphics on the exterior have been designed to create a welcoming, intimate, child-friendly environment and help patients and visitors navigate the building.
