Alice Hospital, Darmstadt

Old and new building fabric

Hospitals and clinics usually extend over building structures that have grown over the years. Different architectural styles, old and new building fabric contribute to the confusion and must be brought together by a uniform orientation system. This also applies to the Alice Hospital in Darmstadt. "During the heavy bombing raid on Darmstadt during the Second World War on September 11, 1944, the Alice Hospital also lost several buildings. In the following decades until today, the hospital expanded, renovated and renewed itself continuously. Especially in the last two decades, countless structural changes have led to an almost campus-like character of the hospital. 1)Planning and conception of the guidance systemThe planning phase of a guidance system starts with a situation analysis, which records the movement patterns of the users. On this basis the objectives are defined. It is important to achieve a maximum of orientation with a minimum of signs, but in addition to the paths, the information presented so far must also be checked and adapted in the interest of the user. Colours as part of a signage system are carefully chosen and used in close interaction with the architecture to support the signposting.sis | sign information systems gmbh, Hamburg, Germany, was responsible for the planning of the signage system at Alice Hospital.The Alice Hospital and its founderThe early history of the Alice Hospital is closely interwoven with the life of its patron saint, Princess Alice, the second daughter of Queen Victoria of England and wife of the Grand Duke of Hesse and near the Rhine, Ludwig IV. In 1867, she founded the "Alice Frauenverein für Krankenpflege" (Alice Women's Association for Nursing), thereby developing a new concept of professional nursing care. The name Alice-Hospital was first given to a barrack hospital built in Darmstadt in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War and administered by the Alice Women's Association, which was closed again at the end of the war, about two years later. It was not until the mid-1980s of the 19th century that the doctors and nurses moved to the present location on Mathildenhöhe. In December 1883 the Alice-Hospital was inaugurated there in memory of Alice, who had died of diphtheria about five years earlier.1)

1) Source: http://www.alice-hospital.de