Project Portfolio
A medical division resembling a grand hotel
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In Taiwan, the Postpartum Care Centre of Show Chwan Memorial Hospital was designed by JEC Interior Co. with a five star hotel look. Underpinning the project is careful consideration on how to raise citizens’ awareness of health matters
Stepping into Show Chwan Memorial Hospital in Lukang Township, a small town on the north-west coast of Taiwan, is like walking into a five-star hotel. The Health Park – as it is appropriately named – created at the behest of hospital chairman Huang Min-Ho in his native city, takes its inspiration from America’s Mayo Medical Center and, like the latter, is designed to introduce preventive medicine in rural communities, while rejecting the purely functional parameters of western medical settings. In addition to cutting-edge equipment and a high-level medical team, this “health park” also features numerous recreational services including restaurants, a shopping centre, accommodation, transport, various events and educational courses, in a bid to engage with the whole community on the vital topic of health.
The hospital’s jewel in the crown is the Postpartum Care department, designed by Taipei-based studio JEC Interior Co. Ltd., specialising in the care of new mothers and their newborn babies: in Chinese tradition, new mothers must rest for a month after giving birth in order to fully regain their strength.
Right from the entrance, every detail is designed to convey the relaxing atmosphere of a grand hotel, achieved through carefully chosen furnishings and materials. The architects explain: “Using Marazzi collections, which we sourced from Link Kind Trading, we set out to create the mood of a Scandinavian lounge, with a warm colour scheme conducive to the wellbeing and relaxation needed to restore body and spirit”. The entrance foyer and cafeteria are clad in Allmarble Altissimo stoneware, which conveys all the refinement of the rarest of marbles, while the floors of the corridors and nursery opt for the uniform appearance of Mystone Pietra Italia porcelain stoneware, which endows the spaces with refined elegance. The in-patient rooms resemble luxury suites, complete with designer furnishings and white wall panelling, beautifully complemented by plank floor tiles from the Treverkcharme wood-effect stoneware collection, in natural shades of White and Taupe, the fruit of the designers’ carefully studied colour scheme. The same pleasing atmosphere is produced by the quiet minimalism of the bathrooms, with wall coverings from the Mellow collection, in this case in pastel shades of Cotton, Ginger, Sugar, Peach and Indaco which reinterpret the brightness of majolica ware.
Project in collaboration with Link Kind Trading, distributor
