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La Croix-Rousse Hospital

This is a project by Atelier Christian de Portzamparc and it is located at Lyon, France. Project's program: Hospital extension comprising E. R., 15 operation blocks, technical and endoscopic grid, reanimation and educational facilities. There are fifteen images for La Croix-Rousse Hospital.

: © Nicolas Borel

Project details

Project name: La Croix-Rousse Hospital
Location: Lyon, France
Program: Hospital extension comprising E. R., 15 operation blocks, technical and endoscopic grid, reanimation and educational facilities
Area: Built-up area: 43,500 m2
Year: Project start: 1999 • Completion: 2010
More details: Beds: 327 • Budget: $ 60 Million
Client: Hospices Civils de Lyon
Project by: Atelier Christian de Portzamparc
Team: CDP Team: Marie-Elizabeth Nicoleau, Bertrand Beau, André Terzibachian
Others: Engineering Consultants: SERETE Engineering • Economist: ATEC

Project images

Designer's statement

In the French city of Lyon, the Croix-Rousse Hospital is to be extended. Its actual organization has set up a “classical grandeur”. Located at the top of a hill, the institution overviews the city’s landscape, major and reassuring presence.

The double constraint site - programme led to a linear spatial system functioning around two vertical columns linked together.

The extension of the existing system means to link the new and the existing. This goes through four key decisions:

Keep the reference to the central axis which will remain a symbolic, geographic and geometric centre of the hospital.
Extend the alignment of the existing façades and establish a sequence of proportions, rhythm and materials from the old to the new.
The length of the extension equals the length of the existing building.

In front of the façade a large open terrace is designed; it sits the long building and forms the entrance esplanade and its garden. This large horizontal plane reveals the dominating position of the hospital and unifies the whole.