Drastic need of renovation
The current building complex is 25 to 30 years old and in drastic need of renovation. A new treatment building and ward block have been built. The existing buildings will be radically renovated and made suitable for the research department that has grown beyond the size of its current location.
Clear vertical structure
The complex will have a clear vertical structure. The ground floor is primarily for outpatients’ clinics, radiotherapy and xray examinations. The first-floor houses mainly staff related rooms, offices, the library and restaurant facilities. The operating theatres and treatment departments will be located on the second floor of the new building.
Three-storey ward block
The newly built three-storey ward block has been put on top of the new treatment block by means of a technical floor. The existing high-rise building houses the research department and the low-rise building below houses the laboratories. The ward block is T-shaped. This has the advantage of a single entrance in the ‘heart of the department’. A unique feature of hospital buildings in the Netherlands is the use of two-patient and single rooms only.
The outpatients’ clinics
The outpatients’ clinics have a unique structure. Consultation rooms are located along a patient’s corridor that can be arranged flexibly. This leads to counters for appointments in the waiting room, which is visually connected to the central hall. To the rear of the consultation rooms there is a ‘doctor’s corridor’, which leads to the surgery assistants’ room. A flight of stairs connects the various surgery assistants’ rooms with the first floor which is a staff floor. This is office space that can be arranged flexibly for the specialists and outpatients’ staff with conference rooms, a library, rooms for dictating and work rooms. This helps to give form to the multi-disciplinary patient care that is so typical of the Netherlands Cancer Institute/AvL.
