אדריכלות ישראלית - גיליון 124

Assuta Ashdod Hospital 2021 פברואר 124 בית חולים אסותא אשדוד אדריכלות ישראלית 87 אדריכלות ישראלית Architecture of Israel # 124 February 2021 86 | | | | Hospitals by definition are meant to hospitalize patients. Nonetheless, space organization in hospitals is totally doctor oriented, while all the rest is intended to serve them, including nurses, auxiliary systems, laboratories, operating theatres and administration. Sponsored by the patients themselves through health insurance, privatemedicine has overturned this system. In new, luxurious buildings, senior doctors are expected to provide a service for patients via state of the art medical innovation, thus reinstating the full significance of the term “hospitality” . A pioneering example in this field was Assuta Hospital, designed in Ramat Hachayal two decades ago by M. Berstowiski Architects with the Toronto firm Zeidler Architects. It is important to note, however, that private hospitals do not meet the basic definitions of a hospital since they are not intended to treat every needy patient, in accordance with the Patients’ Rights Act, 1996. Hence, focused on a declared medical treatment based primarily on surgery, they don’t have a general Emergency Room. Assuta University Hospital opened in Ashdod some three years ago, constituting a turning point in public hospital design, while, required by law, it extends the benefits of private medicine to the general public. The need to build a regional hospital in Ashdod, the location of one of Israel’s main ports, was obvious for many years. An attempt to build a one parallel to the construction of the port was undertaken during the 1960’s by Clallit Health Services. But, “Jewish wars” determine the agenda there too, and all that was left in the dunes south of Neighborhood 9 was a lonely, abandoned building, finally demolished in 2017 in favour of a different real estate initiative. After the 1984 Master Plan allocated a “special plot” for the construction of a public hospital, the “urgent” need to food for work assuta university hospital, ashdod Dr Hillit Mazor build a hospital for a city of over 100,000 residents, a large industrial area and tens of thousands from the surrounding towns, reached debates in the Knesset in 2002. But nothing was actually done to promote it. Prestige battles among the different Health Services regarding exclusivity over existing hospitals in Rehovot and Ashkelon, delayed the building of the hospital for another 15 years. The unique public/private hospital hybrid was accomplished after the Assuta Company won the tender. However, Assuta’s aspirations to build a private hospital faced a compromise, since they were forced by law to build a public one. And thus the public benefitted from the advantages of private medicine. After the programme was prepared by the Ministry of Health, Assuta added its own conditions with the purpose of promoting the form of a private hospital, whereby a third of the beds in each ward become private rooms for only one or two patients. In order to attract senior, experienced medical staff, the institution was defined as a university hospital where the comfort of the medical staff was taken into account. And thus for instance, their luxurious dining room, surrounded by immaculate gardens, would not shame a 5 star hotel. Unlike private hospitals, the Ashdod hospital includes an emergency room, Internal Medicine wards, and out-patient clinics intended to serve the general public, although economically (always a top priority in a private hospital), this has no economic justification. Accordingly, the hospital consists of two separate buildings: one for hospitalization wards and the other – for out-patient clinics, while an impressive entrance lobby separates them in order to maintain the prestigious image of a private hospital. Naturally, neither the programme nor the architectural design took into account the Corona Pandemic reality, and, in accordance with Ministry of Health instructions, devoted only two beds for isolation in each of the Internal Wards, and one isolation room in the Emergency Room. Thus with the outbreak of the pandemic, “the Corona Ward” was located in one of the corridors. Marcelo Brestovisky Architects and Town P lanners Interior Design: Architect David Macullo Landscape architects: Barkan Elhayany Landscape Architecture Construction: Israel David. מירז תעשיות בע״מ - ריהוט מותאם כחול לבן - למשרדים, בתי חולים, דירות ועסקים מפעל הרהיטים של חברת א. ד. מירז מהגדולים בישראל, מתמחה בייצור ריהוט מעוצב למשרדים וחללי עבודה משותפים, לחברות פרטיות ומוסדות ציבור. המפעל הממוקם בעוטף עזה מהווה סמל ומקור גאווה לתוצרת כחול לבן , פארק תעשיות ספירים 4 רחוב התמר 08-6610121 : שדרות. טלפון 365 . ת.ד www.admeraz.co.il צילום: דורון הורביץ