The Healing Nature of Design – Victorian Heart Hospital by Wardle and Conrad Gargett

Heart Hospital (VHH) by Wardle and Conrad Gargett is located on Monash University’s Clayton campus, the first dedicated cardiac hospital in the Southern Hemisphere. The hospital presents a person-focused approach to healthcare inspired by the healing qualities of nature. Boasting an impressive program and light-filled composition, VHH creates an atmosphere of safety and comfort for both those experiencing treatment and those working within its spaces.

Throughout, materials, composition and outlook suggest a new and exciting way forward for hospitals, building on research linking connection to nature with improved recovery times. Approaching through a circular courtyard, the visitor is immediately enveloped – like a warm embrace – and directed to public spaces radiating outward from this powerful way-finding tool. As the journey progresses from public areas towards highly technical clinical areas, there is a slow increase in the sense of tranquillity and calm.

Anchored behind the floating screens, large windows lend filtered light, giving the interiors an aesthetic that feels airy, warm and connected.

The uncomplicated yet engaging material palette is livened by perforated, folded and
weathered steel screens pinned from the building. The seeming irregularity of pattern in the screens is not a decorative folly, but rather veils a clever approach to directing sunlight and actively reducing building heat loads while crafting delicate patterning to frame and emphasise views. Anchored behind the floating screens, large windows lend filtered light,
giving the interiors an aesthetic that feels airy, warm and connected.

A place for clinical care, cutting-edge research, treatment and education of the next generation of health professionals, VHH embodies the idea of collaboration for the collective good. Proving no minor undertaking, the building consists of almost 200 beds, laboratories and an entire floor dedicated to research. In order to achieve this complex brief, collaboration between many parties was paramount for the design team.

As the journey progresses from public areas towards highly technical clinical areas, there is a slow increase in the sense of tranquillity and calm.

Bringing together equal voices from architecture, interiors, facility and clinical planning, along with strong patient voices, VHH wholeheartedly rejects an outdated one-dimensional focus, opting rather for the benefit of health and wellness of all users. Resultantly, an emphasis on prevention, recovery and rehabilitation culminates in spaces designed to stimulate the mind and presents a meaningful connection to nature and other people. For instance, the inclusion of the sheltered courtyard acts as a catalyst for social interaction between staff, students, patients and visitors.

Dynamic in its offering and the first of its kind, VHH emphasises seemingly simple concepts of light, space and connection. The result breathes new life into healthcare, providing a valuable exemplar within both a university campus and the wider community.