To be continued: The Viennese hospital “Lieserl’n auf der Landstraße”

For many years, DELTA has been supporting the Franziskus hospital in Vienna, which has so much fascination and history, in their conversion and new building projects. After the opening of the Centre for the Elderly two years ago, the next step has now been the successful completion of another building component.

On the day of the handover, the joy of all those involved, who have been accompanying this special project for so long, is visibly great and noticeable. Despite Covid-19 and many surprises on the way to completion, the new hospital building was handed over on time. This new building includes a new kitchen with freshly cooked meals, two internal wards and a palliative ward, as well as a day clinic for acute geriatric patients. The commissioning comes just in time because the next step is the general renovation of building component B with the restoration of the historical facades and gardens. But one thing at a time: First, let’s take a look at what the new rooms look like and what exciting experiences our team has had with the project that has just been completed.

More than just new premises

When you enter the new building component H, you feel more like you’re in a hotel than a hospital. The innovative “fresh kitchen” in the first basement is a special highlight in the new premises. The fresh kitchen system makes it possible for patients to choose their meals a la carte, which not only offers greater comfort but also more sustainability in operation because it produces hardly any waste. The large kitchen equipment, such as the room-sized dishwasher, which was brought directly into the rooms from above by a crane, presented a challenge in terms of construction logistics. The high hygiene standards, as well as the functional requirements for the canteen kitchen, demanded a lot of detailed work, which, however, has paid off with the high-quality result that exists now.

It was particularly important to the client that the patients’ rooms offer maximum comfort and are so inviting that one can feel at ease in these rooms. Even before entering one of the new rooms, the corridor with wooden reveals and the black door frames are already visually impressive as an architectural novelty in a hospital. Each room underlines the homely character through an architectural spatial arrangement with ceiling levels of different heights. It has a balcony, features a bay window and a top-equipped bathroom that, despite its high-quality design, also fulfils the necessary functional requirements for the well-being of elderly people. The new staircase, too, with its wood panelling and warm light, offers both a modern ambience and a high feel-good factor. The planned concept with hotel character for everyday operation and maximum well-being for patients, as well as the design of the functional rooms based on process orientation, are reflected in all levels of the new building. In the area of the palliative care ward, which has 16 beds, the room of silence was artistically designed to represent the five world religions. It enables patients and relatives to meditate and celebrate together, as well as to say goodbye with dignity.

Agile and complex at the same time

Despite strict Corona requirements, building operations could be maintained over the course of the last year. Only through the development of the team and the high level of personal responsibility of all those involved, the individual tasks, challenges, and unexpected changes could be mastered successfully. Above all, the high agility of everyone was decisive here: when new approaches to solutions were required, they could be quickly developed and evaluated by actively “approaching each other” without losing sight of the goal or the schedule. Home office in project work was practically new territory for the team in spring 2020, especially in daily communication among each other. Nevertheless, the ELW team was able to complete all tasks without any problems because each individual was willing to engage in something new. In addition to constant communication, a particularly helpful tool was to visualize the planning process and to check again and again how each step could be optimized. The Lean Board, which was used from the very beginning of the project, was the central source of information for all those involved in the planning.

“We have learned that changes are not disruptions, but part of the project. It is a continuous development process from the very beginning, especially when it comes to old existing buildings. Every day we face these new challenges and look for optimal solutions together. About 20% of the time must always be planned for the unforeseen,” says Markus Hiden, project manager, and architect.