Symbiosis University Hospital and Research Centre | IMK Architects

SUHRC has been developed on a forested hill, in a discrete and quiet location. Envisaged as a Multi-Specialty Hospital to provide excellent health care facilities and a State of the art – Centre that would enhance Skill development in the Field of Medicine, the development envisions to educate and empower medical students. Conceptualized to cater to the needs of all the stakeholders, the hospital caters to the nearby population of Pune and its neighboring areas, while providing Tele-Medicine services to ensure outreach services to peripheral, far-flung and access-compromised settlements. Amidst today’s context, currently, the hospital is being used for Government welfare as COVID 19 hospital.

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While the entry to the hospital is welcoming, peaceful, it also provides a sense of grandeur along with a structure that expresses Solidarity, resonating care, and shelter for the patients in distress. A large open-to-sky courtyard separates the Centre from the hospital. The entrances for both these blocks lie on either side of the building, making them seem like two completely different entities, providing the students with different access as well as a space for them for relaxation and academic purposes.

Attention has been paid to construction details, where post-tensioned slabs are used to achieve flexibility, minimum beams, and larger spans that facilitate different size room arrangements and to allow for easy routing of ducts. The flexible grid is designed to synchronize the structural system at all levels. To enable a natural, original, and permanent finish on the building, which would be maintenance-free, brick was adopted as the material of choice for the double skin on the façade with deeper shading projections that would reduce heat gain. The resultant boxing forms were skewed, twisted, or tapered to achieve variations in shape to form a multi-faceted façade that reflects light in different tones in any part of the day. Creating dynamism through its texture, capturing the play of light and shadow each day, the façade looks different, complimenting every mood of the day. What is typically done in concrete, has been made possible in the brick and looks exclusive. Naturally compressed, sundried earthen bricks produced on-site, have been used for façade and masonry work and methods such as brick-boxing were incorporated to achieve efficiency, while reducing pollution. Together with exposed concrete, the skin and the façade flatter the green hills beyond.

Smaller details have been taken into account to ensure a calm and serene atmosphere that promotes healing while encouraging research and creating spaces that are easy to use and maintenance-free. Colour coding has been enabled for easy identification of the assortment of spaces and critical areas such as ICU’s are endowed with light colors of soothing shades to reduce anxiety. To maintain a warm and tranquil environment for patients, soft home-like colors cover the inner walls of the hospital. The ward rooms are designed with warmer and subtle hues of colors that are complemented with teak laminates. Varied temperatures and light with correct lux levels have been worked out for different areas, and the furniture has been customized for special and diverse needs. Acoustic materials in the ceilings of corridors and rooms reduce noise pollution and provide easy access to services. Encouraging way-finding, the nurse stations are highlighted with shades of warm yellow/orange to be identifiable from any side of the long corridor.mn

As multi-faceted angular walls create an orthogonal earthen tone on the façade, the landscape is designed as a free-flowing organic form, using plants of different colors, flower shrubs, and small trees. This creates a healing effect on the patients while acting as pleasant distractions for the patients’ relatives and hospital staff. The vast open space has been planned with approximately ____ number of trees of different species, shrubs, and plants with a vast retention pond at the lowermost level to facilitate zero discharge. The large retaining wall of exposed concrete also gets covered with climbers and plants, converting a blank mass of concrete to an aesthetically pleasing feature that adorns the approach to the hospital.  

Carefully and strategically planned, the building attempts to make gestures that are grand, yet local and responsive with attention to details such as the brick-art and the exposed concrete. Sitting comfortably on the fringe of the hill, the inner courtyards seem like a continuation of the hill, where the built form amalgamates with the site. Allowing nature to be a part of the hospital and integrating it as a comforting element for the patients, the hospital creates a space for recovery and rejuvenation.

Fact File

Designed by: IMK Architects

Project Type: Healthcare

Project Name: Symbiosis University Hospital and Research Centre

Location: Lavale, Pune

Year built: 2019

Size: sq feet: 4,59,074 sq.ft. (Phase 1)

Principal Architect: Mr. Rahul Kadri

Photograph courtesy: Mr. Rajesh Vora

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