Hans Nickl's and Christine Nickl-Weller's designs are tailored to human needs. As a result, the architects work follows a simple principle: promoting the users wellbeing, optimizing the functional interaction of flexible spatial structures, and creatively using a variety of materials. An internationally active firm, Nickl & Partner Architekten is among the leaders in designing clinics, medical facilities and research institutes.
Moreover, the architects have been directing social housing and urban development projects for almost thirty years, for both private and public investors. This monograph is aimed at providing a complete overview of the company's work.
Bilingual: english, german
L'architecture hospitalière reflète la société dans un état d'évolution. Comment nous occupons-nous de nos patients ? Quels environnements de travail offrons-nous aux aidants naturels ? Comment l'hôpital s'intègre-t-il dans notre ville ? Lorsqu'il s'agit de planifier un hôpital, les architectes ne sont pas seulement confrontés au défi de combiner de manière significative la fonction et la construction. Ils conçoivent également des salles qui servent temporairement d'environnement de travail et de vie pour les patients, le personnel et les proches. Christine Nickl-Weller et Hans Nickl travaillent dans le domaine de la construction hospitalière depuis 40 ans. Forts de leur riche expérience pratique et de leur recherche universitaire, ils voient l'hôpital à différents niveaux. Cette vision holistique est enrichie par les contributions d'auteurs renommés issus de disciplines aussi diverses que la psychologie, la gestion de la santé, l'architecture du paysage et l'histoire de l'art.
As life expectancy is extended, medical procedures continually advance and competition between health care providers intensifies, hospital design becomes increasingly important. The idea that patients benefit from their surroundings has been acknowledged for some time, but it is only recently that this concept has become the key to architectural solutions when building or redesigning hospitals and health care facilities. Drawing on over 60 examples from across the world, this volume illustrates the contemporary approach to hospital architecture. Today, architects and interior designers are striving to combat the typical sterile hospital atmosphere with innovative and exciting concepts, whilst still, of course, maintaining a high level of hygiene and functionality. The projects chosen range from new private clinics to extensions and conversions of large inner-city clinical centers and specialized hospitals.
Research is the driving force behind all innovation. Yet, for a long time, the research building, the nucleus of social change, languished as a purely functional building, ignored by architectural discourse. However, today there is consensus that structures for research and knowledge transfer can do and must do more than just provide workplaces and experimental areas. They are actually spaces of communication and inspiration, a reflection of our times.
In Architecture for Science, Christine Nickl-Weller and Hans Nickl share their wealth of experience in planning research and science buildings. They initiate a discourse on social significance, work-environment demands, and future challenges. Buildings dedicated to science are regarded within the context of urban structures, as highly specialized building styles, in their dimension as working and living environments, as well as regarding innovation in research and construction. An interdisciplinary approach is a key factor of this discussion, and thus this volume includes articles not only by architects, urban developers, and specialist planners, but also by experts from a wide range of research areas.
Projects:
New SupraFABR Research Building, Free University Berlin, Germany (Nickl & Partner) ;
Novartis Campus in Basel, Switzerland (Vittorio Magnano Lampugnani) ;
Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi, UAE (Foster + Partners) ;
Essays:
Planned flexibility in laboratory construction ;
We need extremely good architecture!
Experimental zone ;
Innovative façade systems ;
Intuitive signage for all senses ;
Buildings as laboratories for robotics ;
