Monday, June 8, 2009

The Aachen health " factory"

The Aachen health "factory":
One of the weirdest looking buildings in Europe could easily be the large hospital of Aachen. The Klinikum Aachen, full German name "Universitätsklinikum Aachen" (University Hospital Aachen), abbreviated UKA, formerly known as "Neues Klinikum", is the largest hospital of europe located in Aachen in Germany. It is part of the University of Aachen and contains its whole medical faculty. Seen from far away, for many visitors the Klinikum Aachen looks like a giant power plant rather than a hospital.









This is due to the huge striped ventilation pipes that are attached to the outer walls and the 24 " towers" that protrude above the main building:



The University Hospital Aachen (UKA) combines in its singularity all mechanisms of supplying the patient, the entire medical faculty and the dentistry under one roof. In this enormous building is a place for the common research of engineers, scientists and physicians. At the moment co-operate 59 professors, 824 scientific assistants and 4347 non-scientific employees in 33 clinical departments, 21 institutes and in the administration of the UKA. The University Hospital has 1.510 beds. The industrial design of the building is not only visible from the outside but also the interior of the building is very industrial looking:


This building was designed as a health factory, the product enters the "factory" sick and leaves it healthy.