ARTWORKS
Above: At Goedstrup Hospital different motifs and techniques give identity to the different areas. Left: Artworks occupying entire walls have a scale that makes them feel part of the building.
spaces in a composition without dividing walls. The foyer is characterised by brick- clad walls that extend into it, creating a rhythmic progression with gable motifs. The gable motif is emphasised by large artworks that identify the entrances to the different departments, and create clarity and visual markers. This supports the hospital’s overall wayfinding, and makes it a safe and easy space for patients and relatives to navigate. Some areas around specific artworks are furnished with waiting areas where conversations can naturally revolve around the artistic decoration. The artist responsible, Erik A. Frandsen, said: “My overall aim has been to create clarity in an anti-hierarchical and democratic foyer sequence from somatic to psychiatric care. This is achieved by differentiating the foyer into different intimate spaces, each with its own characteristics. It should feel like a pleasant, welcoming, and inclusive space to enter. We took a unifying, yet varied approach, with the 15 colour-stained fibre concrete gables, each with their specific colour scheme for the entrances, to the fresco painting, mirror-polished steel
Arkitema and Stence Guldager
Danish Architect MSc., Stence Guldager, is a Business Area manager and an Associated Partner at Arkitema. She graduated as an architect from the Aarhus School of Architecture in 2000. She has worked for several major Danish architectural firms, including Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, C.F. Møller Architects, and, since 2012, has been with Arkitema, where she is the creative leader and Business Area manager in the ‘Public’ department in Aarhus, which primarily focuses on healthcare projects. She has worked with architecture in the healthcare sector for the past 15 years, and has extensive experience with large hospitals, both in physical and mental healthcare, as well as care facilities in general. Healing architecture is – she says – a cornerstone of her work.
Arkitema is a Scandinavian architectural firm with over 650 dedicated staff based in offices in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. It has extensive experience in psychiatric and hospital construction, and has a department dedicated exclusively to hospital and healthcare construction.
30 NOVEMBER 2023 | THE NETWORK
image, glass pin mosaics, light sculptures lighting down the columns, and interactive screens wrapped around three of the foyer’s columns. This has been an ongoing artistic dialogue with the architecture and the furniture in the foyer, with a colour scheme coordinated with the art.”
Art in the landscape Just as architecture embraces the landscape, art can also be an integrated part of the landscape design. This is particularly evident in the AUH Skejby Psychiatric Department, where the artist duo, Randi & Katrine, have created a playful universe for children and young people in the landscape spaces between the wings of the building. We know from healing architecture that contact with nature and daylight has a positive effect on our health and wellbeing, and it is therefore beneficial for patients and relatives to have access to outdoor areas where play and stays become part of the treatment. In addition to the healing effect of the landscape, the child receives distraction and, through play, can perhaps temporarily forget about their illness and malaise. Therefore, emphasis has been
placed on outdoor areas and artworks that stimulate the imagination and encourage play.
Conclusions In my experience as an architect, if we incorporate art into our buildings and do so from the early stages, with close collaboration between the art consultant, artist, and client, it is very likely that both art and architecture will have increased value for users and their surroundings. Some of the best examples of building- integrated art that I have seen in healthcare buildings are projects where the client and architect have dared to give the artist a great deal of creative freedom. Of course, there needs to be a framework and close dialogue, but in my experience, if the dialogue is open and timely, and the framework is set professionally, trust in the art can bring something extra to the building and its users, bringing them joy, wonder, and quality of life, while also having a healing effect. When successful, there is no doubt that art in healthcare architecture and designing healing architecture are more relevant than ever.
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Photo used courtesy of Erik A. Frandsen
Photo used courtesy of Kontraframe
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