HEWI Mag / References
Healing architecture
How can architecture strengthen mental health? The Fachkrankenhaus für die Seele (“hospital for the soul”) in Sehnde, Lower Saxony, provides an impressive answer: A well thought-through room concept meets modern design, hygiene standards and accessibility. As part of this holistic approach, high-quality HEWI products ensure comfort, safety and aesthetics – in an environment that creates a sense of security and contributes to recovery.
The guiding principle of the design by tsj Architekten was to create "a stimulating and varied environment as a healing environment for the body, mind and soul". All decentralised inpatient services were brought together in the architecturally successful new clinic building, enabling individualised therapies and many accompanying services. For consistent planning down to the last detail, the architectural firm opted for stylish solutions with maximum user comfort from HEWI.
Mental health is a decisive basis for a healthy life and thus for a healthy society. This is no longer just a topic in medicine, but also in politics and many other areas of life. Nevertheless, mental illnesses are still associated with many uncertainties and reservations. Various factors are to blame for this, one of which is certainly the problem of care – both in terms of space and expertise. "In no other medical field is illness so closely linked to the social and societal context as in psychiatry," says the DGPPN publication "Psychische Erkrankungen in Deutschland: Schwerpunkt Versorgung (Psychiatric illness in Germany: focus on care). A lack of time, stress, alienation and fear of the future are just some of the factors that can cause an imbalance in the mental well-being – “more than one in four people in Germany are affected by this in the course of their lives”. And rising.
More space for mental illnesses
Against this backdrop, the construction of the new specialist psychiatric hospital in Sehnde/Köthenwald in Lower Saxony would appear even more to be an important milestone on the way to sustainable, highly specialised psychiatric and psychotherapeutic care. The ensemble of buildings, built twelve kilometres east of Hanover on an area of 15,000 square metres, is one of the largest and most modern psychiatric-psychotherapeutic specialist hospitals in Germany. The five-part complex has eleven treatment wards and offers 30 day-clinic places and up to 350 fully in-patient beds in a central location.
Village-like structure as the basis for the concept
The Krankenhaus für die Seele sees itself as a living space that offers its guests individualised therapy and leisure activities for a period of time, while at the same time meeting their needs for retreat and socialising. Conceptually, this leitmotif is expressed in the division of the new building into five cubes, which are arranged around a central courtyard and are thus reminiscent of a village-like structure with a market square.
An inner ring for orientation
For easy orientation, the individual buildings are connected to each other on three levels by a circular path (loop), which enables short distances and low-threshold therapy services. Located between the buildings and on the loop are the entrance foyer with reception, the dining room, the large sports hall with climbing wall, visitor and meeting rooms, the “training locations” for everyday life and so-called “niches” that can be used for various purposes. In this way, the loop repeatedly creates orientating visual references to the building’s surroundings, such as to the central courtyard or across the foyer to the forecourt, as well as from the loggias to the open landscape, thus ensuring a flowing transition between indoor and outdoor spaces.
Practising everyday life
“The treatment concept is geared towards the realities of life and prepares patients specifically for everyday situations,” explains Dr Matthias Wilkening, Managing Partner of Wahrendorff. For example, there are various everyday training locations such as utility rooms and a “launderette”. The architecture of the building, with its skilful combination of indoor and outdoor spaces and a variety of lounges and meeting areas such as terraces, loggias, corridor extensions and group rooms, supports guests' needs for private and sheltered retreats or for social interaction. There are many opportunities here to find your way back into public life at your own pace.
Hygiene is a MUST
Hygiene is an important aspect when planning a hospital. Especially in a psychiatric hospital; because here, according to Rainer Schadow, architect and client representative of the Wahrendorff clinic, the patients – in contrast to a somatic hospital – move around a lot between the wards.
Pre-existing conditions, says Schadow, who has specialised in the field of hospital planning for many years: “We may therefore be dealing with patients who are at high risk,” which means that hospital hygiene has to be reassessed according to even more factors. However, as excessive cleaning has exactly the opposite effect, Schadow says it is particularly important to create a good environment: “One that has a healing effect and in which patients feel they’re in good hands. Various components play a role here – including the products used.” HEWI’s solutions in the new hospital building cover not only the hygiene component but also the important issue of accessibility.
HEWI combines function and design with the highest quality standards
The aesthetic and high-quality HEWI sanitary products of the barrier-free 477/801 range and System 900 allow users maximum comfort and independence in the bathroom – an enormously important aspect in today's world, also in terms of relieving the burden on nursing staff. The components in the 477/801 series are made of solid-colour polyamide and are resistant to medical preparations and cleaning agents. They consistently withstand even very heavy use and years of continuous and extreme stress. Well thought out down to the smallest detail, the bathroom accessories such as the shower curtain rail and rail with shower-head holder, the toilet roll holder and the toilet brush set as well as the polyamide waste bin with a matt finish create elegant accents in modern bathrooms. Additional safety is offered in particular by the combination of back support and hinged support rail, precisely tailored to the needs of those with motor impairments. Thanks to their non-porous and easy-to-clean surface, the polyamide solutions fulfil the strict hygiene regulations.
On room doors, the classic HEWI lever handle System 111 – in a matt black finish – is like a statement in itself. The style of the lever handle, reduced to the essentials, blends seamlessly into the timelessly modern architecture of the hospital and at the same time creates a maximum colour contrast to the white doors – sometimes in combination with a round WC or escutcheon and in the elective areas with an electronic lock cylinder.
With HEWI, the architects were able to implement their approach of architecture that promotes healing for body, mind and soul down to the last detail, while completely fulfilling the high requirements for hygiene as well as safety and support for patients and nursing staff.
Facts and figures
Project
New building for the Wahrendorff Clinic – Krankenhaus für die Seele
Photos
Andrea Flak
Location
Wara Gasse/Großer Knickweg,
31319 Sehnde
Architect
tsj Architekten GmbH,
23568 Lübeck,
www.tsjarchitekten.de
Completion
May 2023
Client
Wahrendorff Clinic,
www.wahrendorff.de
HEWI systems
