AZ Turnhout rebuilds part of future hospital in cardboard

Walk-in moments for employees to gather suggestions about the Hospital in Green. From Wednesday through Friday, AZ Turnhout employees can test out in a warehouse in Weelde (Ravels) whether future patient rooms will suffice, whether the design for the core of the new hospital is correct and the turning radii for beds and carts are large enough. Plans for Gasthuis in het Groen, the new hospital on campus Sint-Jozef, are currently in preliminary design phase. The hospital wants to incorporate as many suggestions and comments from their staff as possible into that preliminary design.

In a large warehouse in Weelde made available by the municipality of Ravels, the internal design team of the future hospital, together with the architect, is rebuilding three patient rooms, two consultation rooms and the core of the hospital with elevators in cardboard sheets about 1.20m high. The Turnhout-based company Smurfit Kappa (Smurfit Westrock since recently) donated no less than 500 running meters of cardboard for this project. The plan is for hospital employees to visit this "Guest House in cardboard" and for the design team to gather their feedback and input to finalize the preliminary design plans for the new hospital.

"Not the entire hospital will be recreated. The focus will be on the core of the hospital, a standard patient room and two consultation rooms." So explains Griet Braekmans, master plan director. "Other rooms will follow later in the design process. In this phase, we especially want to test how the logistical processes such as cleaning, warehouse or waste disposal and patient transport and certain care processes should run. And who is better placed for that than the employees themselves who spend every day in those spaces."

Questions asked include: Can I adequately turn with a bed in the hallway and in a room? Is it possible to get out of the elevator with a bread buffet trolley simultaneously while a patient in bed is going from the OR to the nursing ward? Do I have to walk far to deposit trash in the dumpster? And so on.

Griet Braekmans, Master Plan Director: "Your home building or renovation project is often about a three bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living space and so on that 1 family lives in. Designing our Guest House in Green is similar to designing 500 or so single-family homes for as many 'families' each with their own individuality and desires. Therefore, at this early stage we want to involve employees in the design process as much as possible."

AZ Turnhout is a hospital with 2,300 employees, making it the largest hospital in the Kempen region. They received approval in November 2023 for the construction of their new hospital site on Steenweg at Merksplas in Turnhout. Currently, everything is in the design phase. By early 2026, the first excavations should start. The goal is to move all departments of both campuses to the hospital site in green in 2031. All info on this in the heading Guest house in green on this website.

Thanks to Smurfit Kappa Turnhout (Smurfit Westrock), municipality of Ravels and Digital Photography Club Turnhout.