ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the design of the AZ Groeninge hospital in Kortrijk, Belgium, completed in 2017. Review of the project, through site visits and interviews with key players, revealed a series of challenges and opportunities resulting from growing awareness of the ecological impact of the building stock when its adaptation is required. The hospital client had the ambition for a hospital ready for the future. Baumschlager Eberle Architekten and OSAR Architects, along with their client, had to rethink their way of designing and using a building prepared for change, despite uncertainty of the future. The result was new solutions to assure the long-term value of the new hospital. Retelling the story of the architectural consortium reveals how their assumptions were challenged and how shared visions and ambitions became crucial. The spatial, structural, and technical concepts, detailed in this chapter, emerged from those visions and ambitions, and are a textbook example of designing for change.
