Hôpital d'Yverdon-les-Bains

The Etablissements Hospitaliers du Nord Vaudois (eHnv) hospital trust is currently planning the merger of two hospitals at its main site in Yverdon-les-Bains. In the two-stage open architects' and engineers' competition for the extension and conversion, the design by gmp and Ferrari Architectes impressed the jury. In order to ensure that the operation of the hospitals would not be impeded during the conversion and new construction, a plan for the spatial and time sequence of the construction work had to be submitted as part of the competition. The concept produced comprises two construction phases: the first phase includes the de-construction of ancillary buildings, the construction of the new building, as well as the move from the old to the new building. The second phase involves the conversion and upwards extension by two stories of the former main building. The building work will double the usable area of the hospital to 28,000 square meters. The first two stories of the existing and the new building form a shared plinth, with numerous internal links between the buildings. Owing to the staggered height and offset arrangement of the building volumes, the enlarged hospital facility is an appropriate addition to the town's residential neighborhood with its rather small-scale urban fabric.