For several years, the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) have been undertaking a transformation of their hospital campus. The project for the new Children’s Hospital is set within this already established architectural ensemble and integrates into it in the most open manner possible, weaving relationships between what is “already there” and what is “yet to come”.

A new shared space is proposed: the “Central Square”. Orthogonal and mineral in character, defined along its northern and western edges by existing buildings and along its southern and eastern edges by the new built volumes, the square becomes the heart of the campus. The site’s vegetated character is preserved and enhanced through the retention of mature trees along the southern roadway.

The urban narrative takes the form of a sequence, which from the main access on the western edge of the site unfolds through four successive spatial moments. Like a rhythm of breathing, these form an alternating series of crossings, thresholds (spatial compression), and openings onto gardens (spatial expansion). The route reveals, in an almost phenomenological way, the history of the site and its compositional logic. It is reinforced by the natural topography, whose gentle slopes from the west and south, and slightly steeper inclines from the north and east, accompany the discovery of the site’s core.

The architecture developed for the two buildings of the new Geneva Children’s Hospital is composed of stacked volumes with simple forms, whose arrangement responds to the surrounding built context. Taller volumes aligned with the public space to the north step back to the east and open the site to the park to the south. Additional setbacks are introduced through the plinths at the various access levels. The spaces thus created establish distinct relationships with the public realm and the surrounding context: covered forecourts in front of the emergency entrance and the main access from the central square, a respectful setback adjacent to the retained lecture hall, and a threshold effect at ground level for the outpatient building.