The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University

The medical area is an extension to the original campus of the Second Clinic School of Anhui Medical University. The design competition for this extension helps the campus to further integrate the medical system into its architecture and improve the spatial quality of the campus. Two green belts are introduced to complex: the horizontal green belt separates the education zone from the medical zone; the vertical one, designed to be a shade garden, highlights the university’s main axis. On one side of the vertical green belt situated the medical complex and on the other side, the infection building and the subsidiary quarters. The main square consists of walk-in clinics, administrative offices and reception for inpatient visitors, while the secondary square serves as an emergency diagnosis and circulation.

The medical complex has four major parts: clinics, technical department, inpatient department and administrative office. Each part has its own communal space. The sixteen-meter wide medical Promenade connects the education building with the medical complex. Flower shops, gift shops, bookstores, supermarkets and beauty salons are lined up on both sides of the street. The Promenade is designed with an open circulation allowing both visitors and patients to move freely through the space. On the west part of the Promenade,lies three rectangular communal spaces, each with distinct configuration. They are the main features of the Promenande: a four-story communal atrium, a roof garden; and a pleasant inner courtyard. On the east of the main entrance lies the administrative offices and the inpatient building. A spacious fountain plaza is designed in between the two buildings and is visually connected with the clinics’ courtyard. Traversing through the Promenade, one would experience its sensuous spatiality through layers of architectural elements. The communal spaces with focus on the experience of the visitors enhance the sense of community in this healthcare facility, essentially turning the hospital into a miniature city.

The Promenade and the three rectangular communal spaces united the rest of the programs to an organic whole. The technical department is divided into two: the clinic-related conventional technical department branch which includes clinical examination and function testing unit is placed at the west side of the public space; the high-tech branch including media center and operating rooms, is placed at the east. The inpatient department is divided into two relatively independent nursing units, with the two surgical developmental stages taken into account. The ward area which is not so closely related to the surgical department is moved to the phase 2 inpatient building. Blood purification center and radioisotope treatment center are on the north of the first floor, each with independent entrances and exits. Obstetrics, including the department of maternity in waiting, labor department and the neonatal department, is on the second floor allowing direct access to the surgical department and the ICU on the third floor. Rehabilitation sports center, pathology and information center are on the fourth floor of the inpatient building. The ward zone with independent roof garden for VIP inpatients is located on the west side.