Location: AZ Delta, Roeselare – BE / Architect: VK Architects & Engineers / Interior architect / Supplier: Kinnarps / Photography: AF-Fotografie

AZ Delta Ziekenhuis, Roeselare – BE

Hospital AZ Delta (BE) is a merger hospital of four campuses. At the new main campus in Rumbeke, more than 700 beds are spread over five floors. The hospital is equipped for high-tech care in 6 clusters: Mother & Child, Head Neck, Abdominal & Thorax, Oncology, Elderly care, Mental healthcare and the critical services. Outpatient clinics, nursing units and dailies are grouped together, creating real ‘care floors’. This ensures an efficient walking route and reduces the ecological footprint of the hospital.

VK Architects & Engineers won the architectural tender for the new hospital to be built. The architect’s choices were translated into the furniture and colour combinations. For each cluster, accents have been applied to match the atmosphere and visitors. For the furniture in the waiting rooms, meeting rooms and lobby, Casala furniture was chosen after a call for tenders and delivered via Kinnarps. The main points for attention were the quality, ergonomics, flexibility, modularity and durability of the furniture.

Outpatient clinics
The outpatient clinics of the AZ Delta are located at the front of the building, adjacent to a busy road. The urban image is reflected in the use of red bricks, among other things. On this side of the hospital, soft seating and black furniture with accent colours have been chosen. The Onyx chairs and waiting benches have an ergonomically shaped shell with a back support. Due to the use of long benches with many seats and as few legs as possible, there are fewer potential dust traps, which improves overall hygiene. The custom made wall spacers guarantee perfect positioning of the Onyx waiting benches and prevent damage to the wall because the wall spacers can’t make contact with the wall due to the spacers. The Onyx waiting benches and chairs are equipped with a black shell and intermittent white shells with black armrests matching the urbanistic style.

“If I have to walk from one side of the hospital to the other, I always go through the public space. I always enjoy the beauty of the building and its furnishings.”

Rosine Herpoel – Healthcare construction coordinator AZ Delta

Waiting rooms
The patient rooms, waiting rooms of the children’s section and oncology department, among others, are located at the quiet back of the hospital, overlooking the vast landscape. Corals modular soft seating furniture in warm colours was chosen here. The main reasons are flexibility, ergonomics and hygiene. The seating elements are made of a washable fabric with only one seam from the back to the seat, ensuring a reliable seal. The no-sag springs and ergonomically shaped elements provide ultimate seating comfort. Because the elements are placed on an aluminum extrusion profile, the set-up can easily be adjusted or extended. The set-ups have deliberately been kept relatively small, so that AZ Delta’s facilities department can take care of the maintenance, replacement and/or relocation of Corals elements independently.

Central street
A central street forms the backbone of AZ Delta and the Corals modular seating system has also been installed here. With seat widths of 45, 60 and 90 cm, organically shaped configurations have been created that ensure natural flow, peace and unity. For the fertility center and various other areas in AZ Delta, the choice was made not to have sofas, but for Blue armchairs in neutral shades in order to create a homely atmosphere that matches the emotions that play a role in these departments.

“In terms of look and feel, the layout of the new hospital for employees, visitors and patients has become beautiful.”

Rosine Herpoel – Healthcare construction coordinator AZ Delta

Aril armchairs have been placed in waiting rooms of medical-technical services, so that employees can sit comfortably on a worktop. These worktops are intended for reading and doing administrative work.

Collaboration
Interior architect and supplier Kinnarps spacially designed the furniture for all the rooms, so that Rosine Herpoel (AZ Delta’s building coordinator for care) and her team had a clear overall picture. The collaboration between AZ Delta, Kinnarps and Casala went very well according to Rosine. The agreements and planning were well followed up. An example of this is the smooth relocation of the furniture. This was a major logistical operation, but thanks to the drawings as per floor and space, good supervision, regular meetings and instruction of employees, it went flawlessly.