I-SYS from Carl Stahl ensures interesting façade effects on the new Richard Desmond Children's Eye Centre of the Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. The world's largest children's clinic for ophthalmology was built a short while ago in the London district Islington as an expansion of the Moorfields Eye Hospital. It unites the recognised medical competence of the prominent hospital and research institute for ophthalmology of the University of London.
As a type of "hospital within a hospital", the architects Penoyre & Prasad integrated the new prize-winning clinic into the existing building arrangement. It accommodates an outpatient department, outpatient clinics, research facilities and rooms for the families of younger patients. Direct passageways connect the main building and children's clinic with each other.
The clear vertical structuring of the five-story building is due to the restricted space of the grounds on the City Road as well as the logical interior arrangement of the clinics. It guarantees the necessary connections to the operating rooms on the first floor and the research institute on the second floor. The main visual focus of the building is concentrated on a spacious glazed entrance area, in which reception, shops, a coffeehouse as well as the patient reception are accommodated. The upper story clinic areas were designed in a child-friendly manner in order to support treatment and convalescence of the smaller patients. The clear room layout mediates a feeling of security; the colour design as well as the spacious play and relaxation zones provide an inviting environment for children and families.
An extraordinary façade facing on the southern side of the building on Peerless Street attracts attention. The forward extended glass façade made of I-SYS stainless steel cables from Carl Stahl and freely arranged aluminium lamellas serve the structure during the day as sun protection. With its extraordinary lighting, it is a formative element at night. Continuous from the roof to the floor of the first floor are I-SYS stainless steel cables of ten mm diameter tightened in a grid arrangement. I-SYS attached clamps from Carl Stahl guarantee the individual arrangement of the aluminium lamellas changing in the light according to the plans of the architects. A projecting orange-coloured bay window pierces the net of cables and marks the most frequented area of the building: the waiting room of the outpatient department on the third floor.
At night, coloured light accentuates the façade. LEDs on the trusses extend forward from the glass façade of every story and illuminate the building with a fine alteration of colours changing from red, green and blue. The light falls on the underside of the bent aluminium lamellas and creates fascinating effects and continuously a new façade appearance.
Office Blank, Holzgerlingen
Project: Richard Desmond Children's Eye Centre, London, UK
Architecture: Penoyre & Prasad LLP, London, UK
Stainless steel cables, assembly: Carl Stahl GmbH, Süssen, Germany
Lighting design: Lightscape Projects, London, UK
Photos: Hans-Georg Esch, Hennef/ Sieg, Germany
