David Adjaye to design 101 “next generation” hospitals for Ghana
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the Republic of Ghana at a ceremony in Ghana’s Ashanti Region to marks the beginning of the construction of 101 District Hospitals (image: Adjaye Associates).
Adjaye Associates has created a blueprint for more than 100 new hospitals planned as part of Ghana’s plan to transform its healthcare infrastructure.
Under its Agenda 111 scheme, the Ghanaian government has announced ambitious plans to build 88 of the new hospitals in just 18 months.
The 101 District Hospitals project will provide “a next-generation hospital experience” said the architecture practice, which was founded by British-Ghanian architect David Adjaye.
Adjaye Associates has designed a prefabricated system that can be adapted to suit each of the district hospital’s locations.
Each hospital will be arranged as a single-storey campus organised around a planted courtyard garden. Introducing extensive landscaping will be a departure from standard hospital typology, said the practice, and will help create an “atmosphere of healing”.
Butterfly-style roofs that lift up at either side will be employed for areas such as patient wards to bring natural light and cross-ventilation without the need for mechanical air conditioning.
For areas such as surgery rooms, where a closed environment is required, traditional gable roofs will be used.
Adjaye Associates said it would strive to create the lowest carbon footprint possible for the hospitals. Both roof types will be able to collect rainwater.
Adjaye, who was awarded the 2021 RIBA Gold Medal, said the hospital designs would “unlock the potential of this ambitious initiative by repositioning the hospital as a piece of community infrastructure”.
Adjaye Associates has also designed the National Cathedral of Ghana in Accra, which is due to complete in 2024.
Agenda 111 is a new scheme unveiled by the Ghanaian government last week that aims to build 101 district hospitals, seven regional hospitals, two psychiatric hospitals and renovate a psychiatric hospital in Accra.
The first hospital broke ground on 17 August in the Ashanti region. At a ceremony for the project, Ghana president Nana Akufo-Addo pledged to complete 88 of the hospitals in the next 18 months – ahead of the country’s 2024 elections.
Each hospital will cost an estimated $16.8m, Akufo-Addo said.
Agenda 111 has proved politically controversial in Ghana, with the opposition party demanding an investigation into how much of the $100m earmarked for the project has already been spent.
Former Ghana president John Dramani Mahama called on the government to focus on infrastructure projects that are already underway instead of embarking on a new project.
The country’s economic issues have been exacerbated by the unplanned spending required by the coronavirus pandemic. The government’s ratio of debt to gross domestic product (GDP) topped 70 per cent last year.
Ghana currently only has nine beds per 100,000 citizens, according to the World Health Organisation, and 88 of the country’s districts currently have no hospital.
Story source: The Architects’ Journal