Concept

The new main entrance is a dynamic architectural statement within the Mansfield Community. It is a clear statement of the role of the community hospital within the community. It orders the public environment along Stockwell Gate and mediates the visitor and patient experience from the street environment to the care environment of the hospital. The boldness of the design overcomes the sombre character and lack of engagement of the existing hospital within the community. The new entrance projects both in the direction of a new reconfigured visitor car park and main highway. Its geometry breaks away from that of the existing building to emphasise its important role as a new hub which the entrance now plays within the hospital and between hospital and community. Wayfinding and access to all departments is now clear from this new entrance.

Patients and visitors will enter from under a new welcome canopy into a two storey light filled volume to the reception point and orientation point. A small enclosed courtyard garden directly adjacent to the entrance lobby provides an immediate sense of calm and comfort to arriving patients and visitors in this space. The hub gives easy and clear access to the Hospital Street, vertical circulation and clear separation of non-clinical community uses from this space.

© Timothy Soar

The projections of the new entrance and its shift away from the geometry of the existing building give a clear purpose to the use of a fresh palette of form and materials for the new additions. To complement the existing fabric of brickwork a townscape interplay of horizontal and vertical forms integrates the new contemporary additions with the existing buildings into a composition of clear elements that articulate the hospital image as a whole.

Light coloured rendered surface will be applied to the connecting single storey additions of the new accommodation providing a neutral building tissue as a break and link between existing and new. An addition to the existing vertical tower element marks the existing hospital street as it meets the new hub.

Acknowledging the topography of the site, the new bar of community accommodation floats above the neutral base. It will be treated as a unique sign element and therefore clad in a contrasting coloured metal panel system. The primary façade orientated towards the public approach will have significant glazing and the metal screening system to provide a layer of environmental protection and privacy.

The corner of this accommodation will be emphasised in response to its significant location over the pedestrian approach. The entrance screen will be a two storey glazed element which identifies it clearly as the new entrance space whilst identifying the openness and accessibility of the community hospital through its architectural transparency.