Renzo Piano Building Workshop has designed an update of their Emergency Children’s Surgery Center in Uganda. The project aims to combine the practical requirements of a hospital with a modern and beautiful architecture, linked to the local building traditions.
The building follows the curves that slope down to the nearby lake and the walls and pathways will form terraces on which the hospital itself will stand. The stacked walls will create unity between the lake, park, and internal hospital environment.
The designers use the excavated land to build the load-bearing walls with the rammed earth technique, which is an ancient building method involving a mixture of earth, sand, gravel, binding agents and water, compressed in wooden or metal frames or moulds. The material is local and cement isn’t necessary.
Another great advantage of the project is the roof, which is made from suspended trellis structure supporting 9,800 square meters of photovoltaic panels. This energy system will let the hospital have an autonomous electricity supply. Connected also to the main line, the hospital will provide energy to the surrounding area at times when consumption is low.
The Piano sustainable project is “a sign of extreme symbolic importance for the promotion of health care and culture in Uganda, and in the entire Africa”.
http://www.rpbw.com/project/emergency-childrens-surgery-center