Children's Hospital

The design for the Children’s Hospital “Pietro Barilla” in Parma, completed in January 2013, was inspired by the criteria of humanisation and environmental psychology, reflecting the wishes of medical staff to create a place “designed around the children”, which was to be as homely as possible for the young patients.

As a consequence, the design synthesises health and functional needs with perceptual and psychological topics. The double-skin façade becomes the architectural device that allows the interaction between the children and the environment. The design aims to create a visual relationship between the building and its surroundings and to enhance the patients’ perception of natural phenomena: the sun moving as the hours of the day pass by, the colours of the leaves changing with the seasons...

The external layer of the façade, made of coloured vertical fins as well as transparent single glazing, reflects the surrounding context on the new hospital, whilst creating a buffer zone that allows for natural ventilation, improving indoor climate and reducing use of energy. The colours chosen for the external layer recall the chromatic palette of the natural and urban context surrounding the hospital. According to the movement of the observer, the colours cross-fade dynamically, providing an ever-changing appearance to the façade. The patient rooms are designed to re-create a familiar environment for the children who temporarily live in the hospital and to allow for views to the surrounding gardens.

The common areas have been positioned in order to open up internal views to the surrounding landscape and to allow natural light to penetrate into the building, thus facilitating the orientation of patients and visitors within the hospital. The healthcare design for Pietro Barilla’s Hospital focuses on creating benefits on the day-to-day life of the children, their families, the staff and all the “inhabitants” of the new hospital.

Fondazione Ospedale dei Bambini di Parma

OBR design team:
Paolo Brescia, Tommaso Principi, Francois Doria, Giulia D’Ettorre, Elena Martinez, Elena Mazzocco, Laura Mezquita Gonzalez, Macias Pelayo Bustillo, Michele Renzini, Alessandro Piraccini, Aleksandar Petrov, Barbara Zuccarello

Project team:
Policreo S.r.l., OBR, Studio Nocera, Sogen S.r.l., Studio Q.S.A., Studio Tecnico Zanni, Engeo S.r.l., Consulenza e Progetti

Site surveyor: Ing. Stefano Soncini
Project management: P&P S.r.l., Luigi Pezzoli
Contractor: Pizzarotti S.p.A.