Arthouse was engaged by longstanding clients Medispace to develop a NZ first timber construction health hub on the site of a once bowling club adjacent to the Hutt DHB Hospital in lower Hutt. The Hutt Valley Health Hub was designed closely with the Structural and Civil engineering team to not just withstand a 1 in 2,500 year seismic event, but be operational within 24 hours of such event occurring.
The main focus for the design was to create a new home for Ropata Health, a large GP’s practice who along with weather-tightness issues, was outgrowing their current premises down the road. The design of the overall building was driven by the patient experience along with maximising efficiencies in the workflow of the GP’s practice.
The Glulam and LVL timber structure was designed in three blocks which could individually move in a seismic event and then self-centre itself after afterwards. This was achieved by utilising Tectonus RSFJ technology in the main timber structure.
The remainder of the space in the building was planned around a pharmacy, café, Child Care centre, specialist doctor’s rooms and a community based Dialysis unit for the Capital and Coast DHB. Beyond the completion of the base build, Arthouse along with Medispace undertook the fit-out designs construction of the tenancies to bring the building to life in what is now an active health hub for the local community.
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