COVID-19 ROUXLENE VAN ZYL & BRIGITTA ALBRECHT – ARCHITECTS, WESTERN CAPE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, SOUTH AFRICA
Facilityastemporaryfield hospital for COVID-19
South African architects Rouxlene van Zyl and Brigitta Albrecht provide a detailed account of how the Western Cape government built Brackengate Intermediate Care Facility – a temporary field hospital constructed in response to COVID-19.
Temporary field hospitals are not a new concept for meeting emergency health needs and providing critical healthcare resources to those in a crisis situation. Brackengate Intermediate Care Facility is such a hospital; it came into being to provide much needed resources in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in the Western Cape.
The rising pandemic The decision to initiate the project stemmed from the careful analysis of scientific data. Epidemiologists modelled various predictions to determine bed capacity requirements and this information was used to ensure additional beds providing oxygen were added to the service delivery platform. This field hospital allocated to the Metro East catchment area and its bed allocations fell within an overall provincial response strategy which included virus testing units, additional oxygen interventions at existing hospitals, and two other temporary field hospitals. These field hospitals planned
to offer intermediate care to COVID-19 patients referred from hospitals to create additional hospital level care capacity for lower risk patients, when there is reduced acute hospital capacity, providing space at main hospitals for acute and ICU patients. Admissions and referrals were centrally coordinated through the bed bureau and the free bed inquiry system.
Infrastructure response Since the implementation to the medical problem of COVID-19 relied on a built environment infrastructure outcome, the spatial planning, services applications and integrated design strategies become fascinating in determining solutions to an infectious disease
IFHE DIGEST 2022 Figure 1. Cape Metro map.
response where information was upgraded rapidly during the course of the design. The project involved the fit-out for medical purpose of an existing warehouse shell intended for stock storage. For this reason, the existing building had a number of constraints and challenges that required out of the box
thinking and a high degree of collaboration between the stakeholders. The speed of execution required and constraints to material and stock availability due to the pandemic, added to the challenge and accentuated the need for quick decision making and concise information exchange between designers and implementers. Emphasis on designing for infection prevention and control (IPC) meant the flow of staff, patients and goods became the driving factor to the planning and layout of the facility with ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ zoning and pathways being the foundation of the infrastructural solution. The existing warehouse posed the
following design challenges and constraints to re-use for new function: l Post-tension slab limitations to penetrations for new services.
l Sewer and plumbing connections to existing reticulation for services – particularly drainage for new ablutions. l Insulation to the thin envelope to
Rouxlene van Zyl
Rouxlene van Zyl is chief architect and senior programme manager for infrastructure programme delivery at Western Cape Department of Health, South Africa. Rouxlene was born and educated in Bloemfontein and obtained her degree in architecture at the University of the Free State. Her professional career started with a small
architectural firm, where due to tragic circumstances resulted in her taking over and managing an architectural firm from the age of 24. This practice grew and was later amalgamated into a larger firm with five architectural offices in South Africa and Namibia. In this capacity, she worked on various healthcare projects – also contributing to master planning of five provincial hospitals. In 2014, Rouxlene accepted a position at the
Western Cape Department of Health, where she currently manages infrastructure projects at Groote Schuur Hospital, Tygerberg Hospital and others.
Brigitta Albrecht
Brigitta Albrecht is an architect and programme manager for infrastructure programme delivery at Western Cape Department of Health, South Africa. Her
journey into the healthcare environment began as a qualified social worker; while practicing, she became interested in working with people in more creative and permanent applications, that of architecture and urban planning. In the design space, Brigitta developed a fascination with the dynamic relationships between building function, spatial planning and user groups in typologies focused on healthcare. The
privilege of working in private practice with a hospital design-focused firm continued to nurture this interest, which led her to Western Cape Department of Health.
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