Brescia Hospital Campus Redesign Prioritizes Integrated Health and Nature
A collaborative team, headed by CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati and Park Associati, has been selected for the significant task of renovating the Spedali Civili di Brescia hospital campus in Italy. This ambitious project seeks to revitalize the existing medical complex, originally designed by engineer Angelo Bordoni in the early 20th century, by preserving its radial layout while adapting it to contemporary healthcare needs. The design introduces a novel "CareRing" structure, encircling the campus and seamlessly integrating the facilities with the surrounding urban environment, emphasizing a holistic "One Health" philosophy that interweaves human, environmental, and social well-being.
The redevelopment plan envisions a continuous circular structure, the "CareRing," stretching over a kilometer around the campus. This innovative element will serve as a multifaceted infrastructure, managing logistics, technical systems, and essential hospital services underground to ensure efficient operations. At surface level, the CareRing transforms into a vibrant public landscape, featuring interconnected squares, therapeutic gardens, and verdant pathways meticulously designed by Openfabric. These green spaces are intended to boost biodiversity, refine the local microclimate, and establish a tangible link between the hospital and the city. A central tenet of the design is to enable patients, staff, and visitors to navigate freely between the buildings and the outdoor green areas, fostering a healing environment.
The core of the initiative lies in transforming the campus into a unified public infrastructure, where the "One Health" strategy merges healthcare, academic pursuits, research, and natural landscapes into a cohesive entity. The older pavilions are earmarked for conversion into spaces dedicated to academic and research activities, thereby strengthening the ties between clinical practice, education, and the broader community. This evolution is also anticipated to enhance collaboration with the University of Brescia's Faculty of Medicine. The new facilities will centralize clinical and technological functions, offering a substantial 60,500 square meters of space and accommodating over 745 beds.
The new Main Hospital features a design structured around three interconnected wings, mirroring the radial pattern of the original complex. A transparent ground-floor lobby will open onto a new public plaza, inviting the city into the hospital environment. Inside, the principles of Healing Architecture are applied through abundant natural light, superior acoustic comfort, thoughtfully balanced proportions, and picturesque views of the Brescia Prealps. Each wing culminates in a glazed winter garden, aiming to diminish feelings of confinement, with visual access to nature being a key component of the recovery process. The reorganization of clinical services focuses on optimizing circulation, reducing travel distances, and ensuring seamless operational flow. Furthermore, the building's exterior is engineered to actively regulate climate while contributing to its distinctive architectural identity.
The Children's Hospital will comprise three cylindrical structures of varying heights, complemented by a network of terraces and internal courtyards. A grand entrance lobby, featuring a soaring atrium, is designed as a communal hub, providing protected play zones and consultation areas. Both hospital buildings will utilize a hybrid timber-and-steel construction, employing modular dry construction techniques. This approach allows for future modifications in response to medical advancements and evolving care models, while simultaneously aiming to minimize embodied carbon and accelerate construction timelines. The integration of intelligent wayfinding systems, efficient flow management, and environmental monitoring is set to streamline daily healthcare operations.
The groundbreaking for this project is scheduled for 2028. Concurrently, CRA is engaged in a similar undertaking for INOC—Istituto Nazionale Oncologico Candiolo in Turin, a cancer research and treatment center. Both endeavors champion a vision of healthcare deeply interwoven with natural environments through the "One Health" framework, transforming various spaces—from parking lots and rooftops to courtyards and entrances—into productive landscapes that promote biodiversity, harness renewable energy, and encourage informal social interactions. These projects collectively embody a larger aspiration: to create medical facilities that are more integrated with their surroundings, fostering stronger connections to nature, scientific inquiry, and the fabric of urban existence.