Healthcare Center for Cancer Patients, Copenhagen by Nord Architects Copenhagen from denmark

A Place for Recovery.

Background:
Getting cancer is like embarking on a journey, you don’t know where will end. It requires
strength to cope with the disease and take on the new identity as a cancer patient. Research
shows that architecture can have a positive effect on people’s recovery from sickness. A
human scale and a welcoming atmosphere can help people to get better. Despite of this, most
hospitals are hardly comfy. Just finding the way from the reception to the canteen can be
difficult. If we want people to get better at our hospitals, we need to deinstitutionalize and
create a welcoming healthcare. The Healthcare Centre for Cancer Patients designed by Nord
Architects Copenhagen does just that.

Design concepts:
The Healthcare Center for Cancer Patients in Copenhagen is conceived as an iconic building,
which create awareness of cancer without stigmatizing the patients. Designed as a number of
small houses combined into one, the center provides the space needed for a modern health
facility, without losing the comforting scale of the individual. The houses are connected by
raised roof shaped like a Japanese paper art origami, which gives the building a characteristic
signature.
Entering the building you find yourself in a comfy lounge area manned by volunteers. From
here you move onto the others parts of the house, which includes a courtyard for
contemplation, spaces for exercises, a common kitchen where you can learn to cook healthy
food, meeting rooms for patients groups etc.

Site conditions:
The building is situated close to the city centre of Copenhagen in the same area as
Copenhagen University Hospital (Rigshospitalet), so that patients can go to the healthcare
center after their treatment at the hospital. On the other side of the road is the Panum
Institute of Medicine.