Outdoor Care Retreat by Snøhetta
12/02/2019.
[Ingrid Sårheim - Oslo] Norway
metalocus, ASIER GOICOECHEA
metalocus, ASIER GOICOECHEA
Description of project by Snøhetta
In the peaceful ambience of the forests only a short walking distance from two of Norway’s largest hospitals, Snøhetta has designed secluded wooden shelters aspiring to make hospitalization easier for patients and their families. Designed on behalf of the Friluftssykehuset Foundation, the first two Outdoor Care Retreats are located in vicinity to Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet and Sørlandet Sykehus Kristiansand in the South of Norway.
The space can be used for treatment and contemplation, and for spending time with relatives and friends away from the hospital corridors. The cabins are open to every patient connected to the hospitals regardless of disease group, and reservations are managed through a booking system.
The Outdoor Care Retreat is initiated by the Friluftssykehuset Foundation and developed in collaboration with the Department of Psychosomatics and CL-Child Psychiatry at Oslo University Hospital and Snøhetta. The aim of the project is to help somatically sick patients and their relatives get the best possible disease management.
The cabins are donated as a gift by the Friluftssykehuset Foundation to the hospitals. The project has received funding from private and public supporters, including Sparebankstiftelsen DNB, Gjensidigstiftelsen, Bergesenstiftelsen, the Children's Foundation OUH and the Norwegian Parliament. In addition, a number of suppliers sponsored the first cabins with building materials, amongst others Kvadrat, Kebony and Lindal Gruppen.
The vision is to build more Outdoor Care Retreats in vicinity to hospitals in Norway and abroad. The cabins are always adapted to the specific location in a way that requires minimal intervention in nature.
Snøhetta is an integrated architecture, landscape, and interior design company based in Oslo, Norway, and New York City, formed in 1989 and led by principals Craig Dykers and Kjetil Thorsen. The firm, which is named after one of Norway's highest mountain peaks, has approximately 100 staff members working on projects around the world. The practice pursues a collaborative, transdisciplinary approach, with people from multiple professions working together to explore diverse perspectives on each project.
Snøhetta has completed a number of critically acclaimed cultural projects, including the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt; the National Opera and Ballet in Oslo, Norway; and the Lillehammer Art Museum in Norway. Current projects include the National September 11 Memorial Museum Pavilion at the World Trade Center site in New York.
In 2004 Snøhetta received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, and in 2009 the firm was honored with the Mies van der Rohe Award. Snøhetta is the only company to have twice won the World Architecture Award for best cultural building, in 2002 for the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and in 2008 for the National Opera and Ballet in Oslo.