The New University Hospital in Aarhus will be built onto the existing Aarhus University Hospital, Skejby, to form a combined hospital complex. The New University Hospital will be the size of a Danish provincial town, and will also be the largest workplace in the city of Aarhus. The hospital town "The large hospital complex will be organised like a town, with a hierarchy of neighbourhoods, streets and squares providing the basis for a diverse, dynamic and green urban area - a town which is not only a construction project, but also a cultural project, involving many sciences and art forms," says Tom Danielsen, architect and partner in C. F. Møller Architects. The hospital town will have a total size of 400,000 m2, which is three times bigger than the new DR broadcasting centre in Copenhagen. A total of 250,000 m2 of new property will be erected. The hospital is intended to function both as a university hospital, regional centre and basic hospital for citizens in the region. Centred on the human being The hospital has been designed to flexibly accommodate future requirements with regard to technology, forms of treatment and working practices, and it will also bring about a considerable qualitative lift in both the experiences of patients and the working conditions of the staff. "We have first and foremost taken our starting-point in the human being. We have utilised the human scale as our measuring rod, so that the individual patients and visitors will not only be able to find their way, but will also feel at home in the new hospital building," explains Tom Danielsen. The complex is divided up into professional communities with their own identities, for better clarity. The hospital town consists of three main elements: a two-storey base with treatment departments, wards which rise above the base to a height of four storeys, and the "Forum" - the central arrivals area, where the public functions are located at the foot of three tower blocks. The tower blocks will house the hospital's administration, research facilities and patient hotel, respectively. On the ground floor will be the main reception area and the outwardly-directed functions, such as the conference centre, shops, bank, cinema and other service functions. Extract from the remarks of the committee of judges: "The proposal demonstrates the will to create an urban structure, and reveals a fine sense of the pulse of the hospital town on many levels. The urban skeleton and the symphony of interior spatial experiences - in the form of galleries, arcades, streets and alleys - together with the well-designed wards, have convinced the committee of judges. The hospital extension is combined in a convincing manner with the existing complex. The new, combined composition marks a clear shift towards a hierarchical system with clear central and decentralised elements, which can in many ways be understood as a robust and strong holistic approach. To this can be added a masterly handling of the future extensions." Hospital expertise "The task of planning and conceptualising the hospital of the future, the New University Hospital in Aarhus, is of immeasurable professional importance to us and our partners, and we look forward to constructing an integrated interdisciplinary project organisation together with the client," concludes Tom Danielsen. A total of four consultancy teams competed for the commission for the New University Hospital. The winning consultancy team, the DNU consortium, which is strongly anchored in the region, consists of: C. F. Møller Architects, Cubo Arkitekter A/S, Avanti Architects Ltd (UK), Schønherr Landskab A/S, Tegnestuen Havestuen, Rambøll Gruppen A/S, Birch & Krogboe A/S, Søren Jensen Consulting Engineers, Nosyko AS (Norway), Lohfert & Lohfert AS and Capgemini Danmark A/S. Facts Preliminary price estimate: DKK 5.5 - 6.0 billion (excluding equipment) Staff: approx. 9,000 Beds: approx. 1,300 Admissions: approx. 100,000 annually Out-patient visits: approx. 600,000 annually Total floor area: approx. 400,000 m2 Total plottage: approx. 970,000 m2