HENKE + PARTNER AT the AKG Autumn meeting in Vienna

The AKG Autumn Meeting takes place once a year in an European country and gives us the opportunity to visit healthcare buildings beyond the national borders. The exchanges with other specialized offices as well as the site visits, are very valuable for the quality management and as a source of inspiration for our HENKE + PARTNER team. HENKE + PARTNER plays an active role at the AKG and regularly organise the symposium for the spring meeting. The aim of the AKG is to provide inspiration for high-quality healthcare architecture.

As part of the event, we had the opportunity to visit two hospitals and the campus of the University WU Wien: With around 800 beds, Floridsdorf Hospital is one of the main medical centres providing healthcare in the north-east region of Vienna. During the tour of the hospital, particular emphasis was placed on the acitvation of outdoor spaces, technical infrastructure and access routes through the building. The hospital also includes the integrated University Simulation Centre Vienna, which is used for the education and training of healthcare professionals. We then visited the Mother and Child Surgical Centre on the inner-city clinical campus Favoriten, where the departments of gynaecology, obstetrics, paediatrics and adolescent medicine, amongst others, are centrally located. With its distinctive façade, the building serves as a catalyst for the future development of the campus. In the interior design, particular emphasis was placed on the use of diverse wayfinding systems: in addition to traditional signage systems and a tactile floor guidance system, the so-called ‘pyramid script’ was used for the labelling within floors and rooms. During our tour of the WU campus, we had the opportunity to view modern approaches to urban development and exciting architectural designs: The Library & Learning Centre, in particular, uses its architecture to establish a new design language for the topics of learning and studying. The mix of different form languages from various architects across the campus creates a unique and distinctive environment for students and researchers.

We are happy that we were able to take many valuable insights from the conversations, discussions and various site visits back with us into our day-to-day work, and we are looking forward to the exchange and the symposium next spring!

Photos: HENKE + PARTNER