The Children’s University Hospital and Polyclinic is part of the largest healthcare complex in Bratislava. Plans to build it on this site were already included in the design of the University (then Municipal) Hospital in Kramáre, with which it forms a single, cohesive complex from an urban planning perspective. The final design of the Children’s University Hospital represents a Type III healthcare facility (with the highest level of specialization). It includes an inpatient ward, clinic administrative offices, specialized and general support facilities, an outpatient clinic, a pharmacy, a teaching wing, an administrative building, parking areas, and garages with the necessary technical equipment, some of which is shared by the entire Kramáre campus.
The need for operational and spatial coordination of all these components placed significant demands on the urban and volumetric concept of the entire complex during the design process. Nevertheless, the architects succeeded in designing the building as a single, compositionally balanced, and operationally functional whole. The hospital has a centralized layout with a floor plan in the shape of an asymmetrical cross; however, the composition of the building masses is no longer based on the vertical axis of the inpatient block and the horizontal base of the outpatient clinics, as is the case with the neighboring hospital. The twelve-story inpatient block, oriented east-west and set into sloping terrain, is intersected at its northern entrance by a five-story, elongated volume housing shared treatment and examination facilities. This concept represents a gradual shift away from overly vertically oriented designs. In the northern part of the complex, connected to both systems, is the entrance area with a polyclinic. The transportation system is designed with distinct zones: the northern section retains pedestrian access from public transit and provides parking for staff and visitors. Access for the emergency room, ambulances, and service entrances is located on the eastern side of the complex at different elevation levels to prevent the flow of traffic from intersecting.
author of the description: Laura Krišteková
Bibliography:
MÜLLER, Rajmund – RAJCHL, Jaroslav – VÍTEK, Jaroslav – ŠAVLÍK, Milan. Rozvoj zdravotníckej výstavby v Slovenskej socialistickej republike: 40 rokov zdravotníckej projekcie – 20 rokov Zdravoprojektu. Martin: Osveta 1988.
ŠČEPÁN, Albert. Detská fakultná nemocnice s poliklinikou v Bratislave na Kramároch. Projekt 36, 1994, č.3, s. 6-8.
