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The new Offenbach Clinic (Klinikum Offenbach) is the most modern of its kind in the Rhine-Main area, offering state-of-the-art medical care and accommodation. Optimised building structures, strong colours, sophisticated lighting solutions and an intelligent orientation concept illustrate how healthcare buildings meet the increasing demands on modern medical care.

The new construction of Offenbach Clinic is characterised by an ideal infrastructure for process-based patient routes, the latest medical technology equipment, a well-thought-out interior design, as well as optimal colour, material, lighting and open space design. All this ensures the very best patient care in the future, while
also providing pleasant working conditions for employees and an appealing environment for everyone on the premises. The illumination is a major contributive component: high-quality, non-glare luminaires provide ideal working conditions for staff. The lighting in the patient rooms
promotes recovery. Intelligent lighting solutions help visitors to find their way more easily.

With a usable floor area of over 29,000m² and a gross floor area of almost 60,000m² the new Offenbach Clinic provides space for six competence centres, areas designated for general care, intensive care, surgery, diagnosis and treatment as well as a technical equipment and installations centre. The new seven-storey building was designed by woernerundpartner.

Petra Wörner, architect and managing director of the planning office based in Frankfurt, describes the architecture of the comb-shaped building composed of four wings, as “disciplined, without pathos, but not without poetry”.

The flexible layout can be adapted to changing work flows, offering conveniently short routes for patients, staff and visitors. Even the structure of the massive building can be adapted to future requirements by adding another ‘tooth’ to the left and right of the back of the comb structure. The public area includes a generous entrance hall, a cafeteria on two floors, a shopping area, a chapel and a Muslim prayer room. The surgery and diagnostics areas are located in the lower part of the structure. Located on top of this, a comb-shaped arrangement of wards accommodates 724 beds and the associated staff working areas.

Warm colours and a lot of light were the central elements selected by the architects for the design of the public areas of the new building. The rich red tones of the façade itself are lively and welcoming. The incorporated transparency breaks up the massiveness of the building and fills it with light and colour. The two-storey entrance hall which every visitor comes into from the main entrance, features a harmonious lighting concept based on Panos downlights and special versions of recessed Slotlight light
ribbons for quick orientation. A soft and friendly atmosphere is achieved by a warm red floor in combination with white wall and ceiling elements.

A specially designed system based on attractive colours and patterns helps patients and visitors to find their way to the right ward or unit more easily from all the public areas.

The patient rooms in 13 wards are bright and friendly, with high-quality, made-to-measure fittings that also incorporate the medical supply system Conboard. The adult patient rooms are decorated in warm, homely sand and earth
tones, while in the children’s ward, a brightly coloured wall dominates each room.

Recessed Slotlight light ribbons ensure bright and pleasant lighting in the corridors – intersections on the way are accentuated by four luminaires forming a square. In the stairwells, Linaria light lines follow the course of the stairs, attractively complementing the railings.

Orientation and structuring in this large building is also facilitated by the many different sight lines between various parts of the building and the inner courtyards. The latter vary in design and colour. The red, yellow or green used offers a constantly changing play of colours depending on the time of day and year. The architecture of the new building furthermore allows a view of the surrounding areas of the city and their optical integration in the premises through the many deliberate gaps in the façade.