The New York Times has cited Rikshospitalet University Hospital as a brilliant example of a new trend in hospital design.
09/09/2004 :: According to The New York Times, Rikshospitalet University Hospital is being used as a model for the rest of Europe, and designers from all over the world have been coming to Oslo to learn from it.
What distinguishes the new hospital is that the building and its setting have been specially designed to promote the well-being of both patients and employees.
Light and air
Rikshospitalet University Hospital moved into its new premises in 2000. The hospital is situated in beautiful natural surroundings and has a magnificent view of the city and the fjord. The interior is airy and filled with light, and is constructed around a “main street” containing sculptures and other artworks. The colours, shapes and materials have been selected with a view to creating a harmonious environment for the patients, their families and the hospital employees. The art collection is the largest public collection of art in Norway outside a museum.
Importance of hospital design
The British architect Tony Monk specialises in health care design, and stresses in his book Hospital Builders (Academy Press) how much the environment of a hospital can improve patient’s health and well-being. In The New York Times he is quoted as saying that Rikshospitalet University Hospital is “the best current example of a hospital that incorporates artistic and human scale, and the therapeutic features of hospital design”.
Rikshospitalet University Hospital is attached to the University of Oslo. It is both a national hospital for certain specialities and the regional hospital for southern Norway. The hospital ranks third in the world in the field of kidney transplants.