Introduction
Situated on the cliff of Monaco-Ville, Monaco, the Princess Grace Hospital is part of the government’s plan to extend and modernise the existing hospital. The new building will be adjacent to the current hospital and is planned to transfer the existing hospital into a balcony with a sea view without disrupting the hospital’s activity. The site’s topographic context and urban density make this an extremely challenging project. As consortium leader (AECOM, Natacha Morin Innocenti, AIA Associés, AIA Ingénierie, and Tractebel Engineering) and program manager on the project, AECOM ensures that the teams across multiple disciplines work together to complete the project on a specified time to budget, maintaining its quality and with the least impact on the hospital’s existing services. (Princess Grace Hospital, 2023) The New Princess Grace Hospital Center construction will be partially completed in 2028, with full delivery scheduled for 2032.
Design and Planning
The building rises above the plinth, shaping arches that open onto a large-scale gazebo that overlooks the sea and the reception on the other. The green plinth allowed for saving and helped the designer manage the continuity of existing roads which assisted them in designing vast, efficient, and scalable technology platforms. The building opens out into a corolla mimicking the whorl of petals of a flower as it rises up its plinth, thus giving most of the rooms a view of the Mediterranean Sea. The hospital’s centre includes openings as a light source to the building and interior patios. The elevated landscaped gardens are conceived as the ‘Exotic Garden of Monaco’, which sprouts indoors and on the rooftops. The Terrace Garden is only accessible to the patients, whereas the gazebo square is open to the public.
The 16-story Princess Grace Hospital is scattered into an 85,000 m² net floor area, is designed for surgery and obstetrics, and has a Woman-Mother-Child unit and emergency ward with 20 operating rooms and 394 beds and spaces. The other spaces include a restaurant, pharmacy, offices, kitchens, and laundry room. Public car parking of 650 spaces and 180 two-wheeler spaces is designed in six levels underground. The new Princess Grace Hospital is designed to proffer an exceptional hospital experience by providing palatial reception areas, hanging gardens facing the sea, and most rooms overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The white shade of suspended solar shading blades undulates, mimicking the light piece of cotton cloth caressed by a delicate draft. The Undulation of the façade creates curved openings that face the sea. The shell helps maintain the thermal comfort of the hospital by filtering the sun’s rays and helping in the circulation of fresh air into the hospital. The hospital adapts innovative technical and functional solutions that provide the best healthcare and services.
Construction Technique and Materials
The construction project was entrusted to Vinci Construction. Since the project is next to the existing hospital, a dome will be set up to reduce noise pollution during the earth-moving and earth-retaining works. The dome will feature 70 cables, each 37 meters long, holding 2,800m2 of sound-absorbing sheets to reduce noise from the construction work to up to 12 decibels (dBA), says Vinci. This project also forms part of VINCI Construction’s plan to mainstream the use of Exergy low-carbon concrete, under which: 85 % of the concrete used at the worksite will be low-carbon, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 30% (World Construction Network, 2022). The team will produce all the reinforcement cages, in stainless concrete steel, for the sunscreen blades for the new Princess Grace hospital centre in Monaco (CHPG). These slats will be made of white UHPFRC concrete; once installed, they will form a huge undulating white shade that will envelop all the facades, over 15,000 m2. Placed end to end, the total length of these blades represents 21 km The complete building will feature high performance-concrete rippling sun breakers, which will offer patients several openings to let in daylight, with most of the rooms featuring a sea view.
In Conclusion
The exceptionally landscaped garden of the Princess Grace Hospital pays tribute to the “Exotic Garden of Monaco” style; the terrace is designed as an interspace directly connected to the urban network to help cope with the patients’ traumatic experiences. Openings and interior patios are developed, creating natural light at the very core of the hospital. The undulating cloth-like enclosure allows air circulation and filters sunbeams, embracing an essential thermic role. Based on an innovative approach, the architectural choice for the healthcare building brings the best technical and functional responses to the patients’ benefits and the quality of care but also proposes ambitious environmental solutions. The hospital complex sheds new light on the architectural expression of a hospital.
References:
Archilovers. (2014, 7 23). Hospital Complex Princess Grace of Monaco: AIA Life Designers. Retrieved from Archilovers: https://www.archilovers.com/projects/132383/hospital-complex-princess-grace-of-monaco.html#info
Hospital Complex Princess Grace, Principality de Monaco. (2023, June 9). Retrieved from AIA LIFE DESIGNERS: https://www.aialifedesigners.fr/projet/princess-grace-hospital-principality-of-monaco/
Princess Grace Hospital. (2023, June 8). Retrieved from Kuwait: https://aecom.com/kw/projects/princess-grace/
World Construction Network. (2022, 03 01). Vinci Construction to build to new Princess Grace Hospital in Monaco. Retrieved from World Construction Network: https://www.worldconstructionnetwork.com/news/vinci-construction-to-build-to-new-princess-grace-hospital-in-monaco/
