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APOLLO INDRAPRASTHA HOSPITAL Location, Sarita Vihar, New Delhi client, Apollo Hospitals area, 6,75,000 sq. ft. Completed, 1996  The 650 bed, multi-speciality hospital has been designed to house the most advanced medical technology and equipment. This modern edifice aims to break down the complexity normally inherent in such large institutional spaces. A different concept has been dwelt upon for the different functional areas, such as the out-patient department, the medical facilities and the in-patient wards.    The concept for the OPD generated from the need to accommodate the people who would wait. while the departments have definite spaces for waiting, the general waiting area has an atrium with a directional visual communication.  
The less complex out-patient department is separated by a pedestrian atrium space from the complex acute care, diagnostic and in-patient areas. The large atrium serves to enliven the environment and provide a street-like atmosphere from within which the various facilities are accessed  
For the medical facilities, the key-word was to have flexibility. A spine and an interstitial floor around and on both sides of which clung the medical facilities. By doing this, the area for circulation was reduced by 30%. The clinical zone consisting of the diagnostic and the 'acute-care' areas were placed with the operation theaters and housed within deep-spanned, podium floor, sitting atop a double basement housing the complex support zone consisting of the various services.  
Sandwiched between the in-patient wards and the clinical zone is an interstitial floor housing the engineering plants & services which support the complex medical facilities and the clinical zone below. For the in-patient wards, several criteria had to be satisfied : provision of cross-ventilation in every room; every bed to have a view of the outside; a minimum walking distance from the nurses station to the rooms and also allowing a sense of visual check; flexibility for the future so that any floor could be converted from wards to rooms and vice-versa : as the floors progress, the configuration for the hierarchy of the rooms to get established. The in-patient wards are grouped reassuringly around a central nurse's station and are placed above the clinical zone in the podium. Throughout the complex the aim has been to de-institutionalize the spaces by the use of bold, vibrant colours and patterns , thereby, creating a cheerful atmosphere and a feeling of home away from home. |
