Architecture firms OMA and Buro Happold have revealed their design for a sprawling new futuristic medical precinct in Doha, Qatar.
The Al Daayan Health District will be centred around a two-storey building on a 1.3m sq.metre plot of land between Qatar University and Lusail City.
The building will consist of low-cost, cross-shaped modular units that are easily customisable.
These prefabricated units will be constructed locally with affordable materials to minimise reliance on global supply chains. 3D-printing will also be used to design traditional facades.
Inside the building will be a teaching hospital, a women’s and children’s hospital, and an ambulatory diagnostics centre.
Initially, the building is expected to hold a total of 1,400 beds.
An automated underground circulation system will connect the hospital to a ‘high-tech farm’ that will supply food and locally produced medicines, while a dedicated logistics centre and solar farm will allow the entire district to essentially function autonomously.
The ground floor will house wards to minimise the need for patients to use elevators as well as to give them access to gardens.
Clinical and other facilities will then be located on the first floor.
Reinier de Graaf, a partner at OMA and leader of the project, said: “Architects have long aimed to provide the hospital with a final solution.
“This proposal starts from the opposite end: viewing the hospital as the type of building that is forever under construction, as an organism for which space and time must be considered equally.
“The hospital needs to be a freestanding, dedicated building that is not reliant on the city or outside sources. Qatar has chosen to explore this vision.
“The pandemic has forced countries around the world to reevaluate how hospitals function and how they are built.
“We may see more autonomous high-tech health districts like this proposed in the near future.”
Main image credit: OMA
Read next: The sky’s the limit: Five uber-tall high-rises under construction in the UK
Are you a building professional? Sign up for a FREE MEMBERSHIP to upload news stories, post job vacancies, and connect with colleagues on our secure social feed.
