Rush University Medical Center New Hospital Tower, United States of America, designed by Perkins+Will, has won the ‘World’s Best Health Building’ award at the prestigious World Architecture Festival (WAF) Awards 2013.
The judging of the WAF Awards is taking place during the largest global celebration of architecture - the World Architecture Festival, which is being held at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore this week.
Located in Chicago, the hospital is part of a campus-wide transformation project which also includes an orthopaedic building and a parking structure and new loading and delivery system. The building consists of a rectangular six-story base containing new diagnostic and treatment facilities topped by a five-story curvilinear bed tower, where the base connects to the existing diagnostic treatment facilities to create a new continuous interventional platform. The geometry of the hospital tower maximizes views and natural light for patient rooms while also creating an environment for efficient and safe health care.
The building was selected by a jury of some of the world's most dynamic architectural and urban designers. It overcame competition from a shortlist of eight entries.
The jury commended the project, saying “We were impressed by this project’s sensitive approach to context with an innovative solution to a highly complex programme, combined to a compelling result that challenges stereotypes of institutionalized health care. Visually strong and expressive, the integration of nature and light created an inventive formal hybrid!”
The World’s Best Health Building Category was sponsored by WAF Founder Partner Grohe.
The jury added that overall, there were many strong entries in this category. A highly commended project was The Kinghorn Cancer Centre by BVN Donovan Hill, which provided a sensitive approach to site and programme through layering of function, light, enclosure and nature.
This is the 6th year the World Architecture Festival Awards have been presented, and by the end of the festival 32 WAF Awards will have been announced across the three main sections of Completed Buildings, Landscape and Future Projects.
Projects entered this year, against a challenging economic climate, reflect the festival’s theme of ‘Value and Values’ demonstrating the core factors that inform the relationship between perceptions of financial value and the values that architects typically hold regarding their work. The awards programme will culminate with the announcement of the coveted World Building of the Year Award, which will be selected by the festival’s super-jury. It will be chaired by Ken Tadashi Oshima of The University of Washington. The highly esteemed international judging panel also includes Ken Yeang - Llewelyn Davies Yeang; Patrick Bellew - Atelier Ten; Jeanne Gang - Studio Gang Architects and Dietmar Eberle - Baumschlager Eberle.
Paul Finch, WAF Programme Director, said: ‘This year’s festival is already proving to be the largest, most well-attended and most exciting event to date. The strength of the entries in this year’s awards has even surpassed the very high standards set in previous years, ensuring that each category is extremely competitive. Today’s category winners will now compete for the festival’s ultimate prize, The World Building of the Year award, and our super-jury will certainly face some tough decisions given the calibre of today’s winning projects.”
Previous winners of the World Building of the Year Award include Luigi Bocconi University, Milan, designed by Irish practice Grafton Architects (2008); Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre in South Africa, designed by Peter Rich Architects of Johannesburg (2009); MAXXI (National Museum of the 21st Century Arts) in Rome, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects (2010); Media TIC, designed by Cloud 9 Architects (2011); Gardens By The Bay, designed by Wilkinson Eyre, Grant Associates, Atelier One and Atelier Ten (2012).
