Greenwich district hospital

(by andwar from the greenwich pool)

It's actually been demolished. Haven't been to the area in a while, and I shouldn't be surprised - derelict since 2001 - but I guess I entertained fantasies of little communities doing great things in there all this time.

This was the first building I remember having an opinion about. We moved to London when I was four: my parents worked there, we lived on its doorstep and it was stunningly imposing. If I were to make a personalised set of Eames cards to build a home, this would feature.





Never known much about its design, but I've found the following from offkilter:

Built 1962 - 1970 Greenwich District Hospital was the first complete hospital to be designed by the Ministry of Health's Hospital Design Unit.

At that time, the traditional hospital building was a tall ward block over a podium of diagnostic, treatment and service departments. Instead, Greenwich District Hospital was built using the concept of universal hospital space: large continuous horizontal areas clear of columns or service shafts, but with ready availability of services to any part of it.

This style of structure led to a compact, low-rise design that had the advantage of easy transfer or evacuation of bedridden patients in case of fire. The whole hospital was to be ventilated mechanically and none of the windows would open so that the air in the wards would be as "pure" as possible.



A 1964 BMJ article expands on the 'revolutionary' engineering:

Prefabricated and pre-cast components will be used for the whole structure and the construction is such that the inside of the hospital can be altered as medical needs and the needs of the population change. If necessary the hospital can be extended upwards and sideways to provide 50% more accommodation.