Erasmus Medical Centre

The roof landscape plays a crucial role in the manifestation of a 'healing environment' within the hospital complex. Public use roofs are designed as fine stay areas for staff, patients, and visitors, recognizable by their rich layout with trees, multi-stemmed shrubs, and perennials. Nature roofs contribute to urban biodiversity and provide patients with high-quality green views. To ensure healthy growth at height, a substrate layer of 100 cm is applied on these 'blue-green' roofs, which also function as essential retention systems for rainwater buffering.

Historically a green city avenue, the 's-Gravendijkwal is being reintroduced as a 'parkweg' (park road) in the Rotterdam tradition. The design creates a new urban wall that activates the public space through open arcades and inviting plinths. A fine-grained network for slow traffic connects the campus to neighboring districts like Little C and the Museumpark. By meticulously managing height differences between the building levels and the street, the design facilitates a seamless and accessible transition between the internal campus 'backbone' and the city.

The design addresses extreme precipitation, drought, and heat stress through an integrated strategy. To combat urban heat, at least 60% shade is realized along slow traffic routes, while 80% of all surfaces are designed to be cooling through the use of light-colored materials and vegetation. Regarding wind, the design utilizes a 'stepped tree mass'—comparable to a forest—with lower, wind-resistant crowns at the edges and higher crowns in the center to mitigate downdrafts from the high-rise buildings and ensure a comfortable ground-level climate.

Positioned between major city parks, the campus acts as a strategic ecological link. The design applies the 'Malmö list' of nature-inclusive measures, integrating at least 20 specific interventions per development plot. By building up ecological layers from ground level to the rooftops—the 'Limes Divergens'—a robust habitat is created for guide species such as the common pipistrelle, the swift, and the bumblebee. This approach ensures that nature in the city provides not only ecological value but also tangible social and experiential quality for patients and residents.