PHOTO TOUR: Lismore Base Hospital
Trevor Mein
The new Lismore emergency department reception and waiting area utilizes the simple design element of wrapping the walls with panoramic paint colors by department. This simple element offered an economic yet effective wayfinding strategy that is simple and clear for the users in times of distress. The ceiling and floor organic shape details mirror each other in each space and are continued throughout the facility. The wood in the soffit softens the otherwise clinical spaces and marries in with the wood-clad reception desk and staff station.
Trevor Mein
The emergency department's color is repeated on each of the partition blades between each patient and provides a degree of privacy to each patient not typically offered in an emergency department environment. The shape of the partition still allows full vision from the staff stations and again follows the overarching concept of organic shapes throughout the facility and the external areas.
Trevor Mein
The renal patient bays are again separated by unique and organic-shaped colored partitions. The color matches the departmental panoramic wayfinding strategy, while the cut out between bays gives the patients a degree of privacy while also offering vision from the staff station to the patients and the opportunity for patients to chat to their neighbors if desired while on their regular dialysis treatments.
Trevor Mein
The project included a new entry leading into the existing hospital's main entrance. One of the design challenges from the beginning of the project was unifying the existing hospital with the new building. The external canopy and forecourt area was designed as an organic element which seamlessly linked the old main entrance to the new emergence department entry and renal entry giving the front face of Lismore Base Hospital a new identity. The organic cutout shapes in the canopy are then repeated through to the interior design throughout the facility.
Trevor Mein
The forecourt canopy takes on the different levels of the existing site conditions and folds down to the renal entry from the existing main entrance. The landscaped courtyards provide lush seating opportunities for occupants and staff alike and provide a degree of privacy for the renal patients who visit the unit frequently.
Lismore Base Hospital provides a wide range of healthcare services to the Northern Rivers community in New South Wales, Australia. The 51-bed emergency department and 18-bed renal unit were the first departments of the hospital’s $260-million redevelopment to be completed.
The emergency department, which cares for almost 30,000 patients annually, also manages acute medical and surgical problems, as well as trauma and all forms of adult and pediatric health issues.
A complex project phased over many years, the redevelopment has allowed the hospital to expand its capacity and has resulted in improved medical support to the local area helping to advance the level of care to the community by bringing services in closer proximity to their homes and reducing the need for patient transfers to metropolitan hospitals.
Creating visual cohesion, a new external canopy was designed to integrate the new south tower at the front of the site with the existing structure. Signaling a new address for the hospital, the folding form of the cover assists to identify the public-use boundary by providing a landscaped place of respite for patients and visitors to gather.
Opening up the interiors encourage patients to feel part of the community. By breaking down the clinical model, the design provided an opportunity to create a more relaxed experience in the emergency and renal departments.
The new renal unit features 18 dialysis treatment spaces including three isolation rooms, dialysis home training facilities, a private courtyard, a patient lounge and a separate entrance and waiting room.
The emergency department is divided into a number of key areas, all connected by large corridors that allow easy movement for staff. The creation of an internal east/west hospital link bridge partnered with the streamlined and integrated central entry has helped to provide a clear connectivity within the hospital.
Woods Bagot provided architecture, interior and clinical design services. Landscape was completed by 360, and signage was completed by ID Lab.
