Edilizia sanitaria

Children's Hospice

2014 - in progress, Bologna, Italy

The project was commissioned by the Maria Teresa Chiantore Seràgnoli Non-Profit Hospice Foundation, to embody the approach it has always adopted to palliative care: to associate functionality and quality services with the nobility of beauty.

The project idea is that of a building raised off the ground to ideally inhabit a light, glowing space with the eyes of the young residents level with the foliage. The idea of “alleviating” comes from the same root as “levitating”: lifting the burden of pain. Ultimately, this is the reason and power of human pietas within the idea of a hospice: to relieve the pain of those who live here. Living amid the trees is closely related to children's games and dreams, tree houses and the powerful idea of creative freedom in the natural world.

The building develops as a number of pavilions connected by light airy links with the principal block. Two satellites on the south side accommodate eight apartments accommodating the families of the little patients, while on the other side there are two poles with a more intimate character: a place of meditation and a terrace immersed in the greenery, the entrance to the farewell space.

All the volumes are raised from the ground by slender columns with circular sections. The fronts of the buildings are rhythmically patterned by transparencies and opaque sections faced with timber. The slope of the site enables the volumes to be harmoniously inserted in the landscape setting, using the ground floor of the main building as a transitional element and link between the existing external levels. The ground floor features a large double-height entrance with various activities: reception, secretarial services, meeting rooms and outpatient activities of the Day Hospice.

On the mezzanine level there is a training room for the facility and its role as a future educational and training center for palliative care.

The first floor develops around a large central garden-patio. The wards are positioned on the opposite sides facing the exterior through a winter garden. This floor contains the services and activities of the hospice, such as a kitchen with refectory and staff canteen, a gymnasium for physiotherapy, a hydrotherapy pool, meeting rooms for physicians and other recreational and educational activities for the little guests.

The Hospice and the satellites linked to it are complemented by a roof made completely of photovoltaic panels. Together with other innovative systems, such as geothermal energy, they make the Hospice a highly sustainable building.

Status: Ongoing

Client: Fondazione Hospice Seragnoli

Design: Renzo Piano Building Workshop, architects

Design team: G.Grandi, S.Russo (partner and associate in charge)