Contract - October 2014 - 76

Acute
Winner
Mount Elizabeth Hospital
Novena
Architect and Interior
Designer HOK
Client Parkway Pantai Limited
Where Singapore
What 780,000 total square feet
on 13 floors plus basement
Cost/sf Withheld at client's
request
For a full project source
list, see page 114 or
visit contractdesign.com.

A grand drive and auto
court (left) accommodate
taxis that arrive at the hospital
entrance. Patients and visitors
encounter a double-height
lobby (opposite) with warm
teak and backlit onyx panels.
The space is minimally
furnished to allow plenty of
room for arriving patients,
families, and their luggage.
Nurses' stations (above) on
VIP floors feature wrapped
stone countertops.

Key Design Highlights
Luxury hotel design provided
inspiration for the interiors,
particularly circulation patterns,
as well as the high-end finishes.
The spacious lobby is a doubleheight space with a gold-leafed
coffered ceiling and soft lighting.
All patient rooms are private
and are designed to maximize
views and comfort.
VIP floors contain groups
of suites and feature
particularly luxurious finishes
and custom furnishings.
Staff has two separate corridors
for transporting clean and
dirty materials.

76

M

edical tourism is a business that is estimated to generate
revenues upwards of $38 billion annually worldwide,
as people travel to faraway places for more affordable
procedures and better quality of care in a hotel-like
environment. To position itself in this growing marketplace, Parkway
Pantai, one of Asia's largest private healthcare providers, built Mount
Elizabeth Hospital Novena in Singapore to attract both new and
existing traveling clients, such as the Sultan of Brunei.
"The client gave us St. Regis, the glamorous new hotel in Singapore,
as a reference point," says Donald Cremers, senior interior designer at
HOK. "The project was about the marriage of the hospitality experience
with the top quality of care." The result is a hospital that ranks among the
most luxurious medical facilities in the world, featuring amenities such as
butlers and catering kitchens on each patient floor, sumptuously
appointed VIP rooms, and rooftop gardens.

VIP entrances and well-appointed patient rooms
From an architectural standpoint, the challenge was fitting all of the
client's requirements within a triangular, sloping infill site. The design
team created a 13-story, 780,000-square-foot structure split into two
wings. The hospital is at the top of the site, and the other wing is a
medical office building on top of a multi-level parking garage. The
hospital layout also had to accommodate twice the anticipated
number of corridors and elevators. A typical hospital has three
pathways: one for transporting patients, another for visitor circulation,
and a third for staff functions, including cleaning and food delivery.
At Mount Elizabeth Novena, though, the third pathway was separated
into two-one for clean and another for dirty materials-for improved
sanitation. To keep the pathways separate, the hospital has 17
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Contract - October 2014

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