New Cremona Hospital

The building has seven above-ground levels and is divided into two main bodies, which connect at level 00 at the main health access. This is the focal point of the system, connected to the operating block - subdivided into Emergency, Cardiovascular, Multifunctional and Minor Surgery - and an elevated structure housing medium/low-tech health care services. The care services are the bridge between the hospital and the local area:

Emergency Room: on the 00 floor, according to the "Hospital within a Hospital" scheme, it is able to function autonomously from the rest of the facility while being connected via fast and dedicated routes to diagnostic services, operating blocks, intensive care and inpatient wards; an autonomous section is provided for the management of the infected patient and in connection with special precepted inpatient areas in case of a medical emergency.
Diagnostic imaging, contiguous to the Emergency Department, Operating Block and intensive care units, to which it is connected via dedicated corridors.
Outpatient area: on floor 01, off the other routes and in connection with the areas of the hospital designated for booking and admission.

Envisioned to be a landmark for the community, the Health Park will accommodate social spaces and introspective places for physical and mental care and well-being, as well as a new natural area that can accommodate biodiversity within the urban area. It consists of 3 elements:
a climatic forest, the natural area encompassing the Hospital, where green paths connect a sequence of therapeutic activities and areas of animal and plant biodiversity;
the vital link, a pathway along which spaces open up for recreational-sports activities and social interaction;
the rural ring, a large natural grassland system with a central body of water, the cornerstone of the entire park.

Solutions that help mitigate the effects of climate change have been adopted in the design of the building and outdoor space. These include the presence of natural elements (water, vegetation), the adoption of Nature-Based Solutions, and the choice of paving materials, which together contribute to mitigating the urban heat island by achieving a decrease in the average perceived temperature of about 4° from the current situation.
In addition to the choice of materials and specific construction solutions, passive strategies such as the study of optimal orientation or permeability to winds and natural lighting are also used - with the aim of minimizing the impact on the environment by reducing emissions.

The design of the hospital places the user-patients, health care staff, visitors-at the center of the hospital system and is inspired by the principles of empathy, creativity, and understanding their needs. On the one hand, the patient will find different environments in the hospital depending on the pathways and intensity of care he or she will have to follow; on the other hand, the isolation of the different departments is overcome, which are no longer conceived as distinct "cells," but as areas of different professionalism working on the same patient. The result is a system in which the entire hospital collaborates by operating as a single department - and not as a summation of isolated departments.
Flexibility is a central theme. First and foremost, the hospital is designed to facilitate the rearrangement of inpatient areas as the

health care needs, so that the 20% of the inpatient rooms can be transformed into an intensive care area with the interposition of a filter, while the 80% of them can become a two-bed room in case of sudden bed requirements. The architecture of the New Hospital of Cremona also defines a gradient of accessibility of spaces: from secluded environments in which privacy and patient well-being become central, to those that are more permeable and open to citizens that house commercial services for users and visitors by connecting the hospital to the urban scale. They are, for example, theHospital Street, a reception area for the public but also an interaction space for health care personnel, and the Management Center, on the second floor, which houses spaces dedicated to the governance of clinical activities located throughout the territory.