PARTNERS IN DEVELOPMENT
Architectural Elegance As Managing Director of CCH Architects, Arthur Hickey has worked on many high end commercial projects, however he has a particular fondness for a certain development in the leafy suburbs of Lucan.
H
ermitage Medical Clinic was completed and opened in 2006 and CCH are proud to have been chosen to create
one of Ireland’s finest hospital build-
ings. According to Hickey, if location is
everything, then everything was here from the start:
“The site chosen was ideal. Set below the level of the M4 motorway, it provides excellent access to the M50, while also having the benefit of sweeping views down to the
banks of the Liffey on one side and Hermitage Golf Club on the other, with fine mature trees and the grounds to Fonthill House to the east”.
In creating a concept for the perfect space, CCH Architects faced the entrance to the clinic towards the vehicular access point for maximum visibility. Inside a dramatic four-storey entrance hall was created to give a real sense of ‘arrival’ for the visitor, with an ordering space that allows visitors to
orient themselves to the various wings of the building. This is set around the striking central reception with its seating
area and cafe at first upper level, left open and overlooking
the reception space for a sense of light and vitality as people enter and use the space.
For further dramatic effect a large glazed window facing
east over the water feature looking towards the open space and Fonthill House provides a connection back to nature and highlights the wonderful setting of the building.
“At all times we tried to design the building and the interior, particularly the reception area, as a welcoming place,
giving the feeling of a 5-star hotel rather than the traditional hospital atmosphere”, explains Hickey.
On a practical level, off the reception area to one side is the
day patient consultant’s suites wing, while on the other side is the in-patient accommodation, again in a four-storey
wing with views over the Hermitage golf course. The ma-
jority of the rooms are single occupancy with en-suite bathrooms but there are a number of multi-occupancy rooms and high dependency rooms close to the nurses’ station.
Through the entrance hall are the diagnostics, radiology,
general and specialist, laboratory, day care facilities, 5 ‘state of the art’ theatres, recovery, intensive care unit and back
of house accommodation. The services and IT design are to the most modern standards, including hospital records
being accessed through the computer network including at each patient’s bed.
Good design creates the best atmosphere for the patients,
staff and visitors explains Hickey. The aesthetics set the mood for the way people experience a building: “If an
aesthetic makes people feel good; the patients, the staff and the visitors; the better the healing and work process”.
This is the third major private healthcare facility designed by CCH Architect in Ireland, which includes the Black-
rock Hospital and Clinic, the Galway Clinic, theatre block in the Cappagh Hospital and many nursing homes and
clinics throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom plus a number of healthcare facilities in the Middle East.
Hermitage Medical Clinic | 101