Open Building in Health Care Architecture: The Case of the INO Project in Bern, Switzerland

摘要

Located in Bern, the Inselspital is one of the oldest medical centers in Switzerland. It is a comprehensive university hospital whose physical facilities are managed by the Canton Bern Building Department. Several years ago, the hospital identified a need for a major renovation and new construction program. Based on an evaluation of past procurement methods that revealed their inability to prepare facilities with needed capacity for continual change, a decision was made to completely alter the methods it had used in the past. This led to a detailed "open building" planning process that produced a plan for a three-step competition for the new project - the INO - based on a distinction of decision levels. Each level corresponds to an expected period of optimum performance. The "Primary System" (base building) is intended for a 100-year performance period, the "Secondary System" (fit-out) for 20 years, and the "Tertiary System" (hospital equipment) for 5-10 years. The project is now under construction and is to be completed in 2007. As a result of this project, the Canton Building Department has decided to implement open building in its future projects. This paper reports on the project planning and its implementation-in-progress. The paper discusses the extent to which open building and lean construction principles are being applied to the design and construction of this large medical building, and comments on the rationale for adopting these methods more broadly.