Childrens Hospital Zurich

The Acute-Care Hospital

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The new Children’s Hospital, located in a residential area with fruit orchards, is near the historic Burghölzli University Psychiatric Clinic. Its curved façade creates a shared forecourt with the neighboring historic building, and a tree-filled courtyard leads to the main entrance. The ground floor houses the restaurant and therapy facilities, with the central “main street” connecting high-traffic treatment areas like imaging diagnostics, a surgical day clinic, and the emergency room.

The second floor includes shared services such as the hospital school and pharmacy, surrounded by office spaces for 600 staff. The top floor, reserved for children and adolescent inpatients, offers 114 private rooms designed as wooden cottages with individual roofs, providing privacy, outdoor views, and space for parents to stay overnight. Transdisciplinary treatment centers are also nearby.

The hospital’s concrete façade varies in depth and material—wood, glass, fabric, or vegetation—based on orientation and function, ensuring flexibility for departmental changes. The top floor’s cottage design emphasizes individuality and tranquility for patients.

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The Research and Teaching Facility

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This cylindrical, white building centers on an atrium that fosters collaboration among researchers. Below the atrium, a multi-use agora with movable walls accommodates up to 670 people for lectures or events. Three lecture halls and seminar rooms are integrated into the landscape, with ample daylight and open spaces for students.

Above, research laboratories and offices are arranged around the atrium, offering landscape views and visual connection to the agora below through a central oculus. The building’s simple geometric design and white cantilevered balconies create an airy aesthetic, harmonizing with the surrounding orchard.

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Complementary Facilities

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Together, the acute-care hospital and research facility balance individual patient care with scientific collaboration. The hospital’s horizontal layout integrates into the flat landscape, emphasizing personalized healing, while the circular research building on the hill promotes academic exchange, linking the facilities through their shared mission of advancing care and research.

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