CLIENT Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale, Lugano
DESIGN COMPETITION IN TWO PHASES 1st prize
ARCHITECTURE Ipostudio
STRUCTURE aei progetti
MEP Tecnoprogetti, Erisel
DESIGN 2017- 2019
REALIZATION 2020-2023
GROSS FLOOR AREA 37.500 sqm
TOTAL COST 130 mio €
STRUCTURE COST 25 mio €
RENDERINGS Ipostudio, aei progetti


The proposal for the expansion of the Civic Hospital of Lugano tried to resolve some strategic elements for the functionality of the hospital (accesses, flows, urban planning constraints) maintaining the dislocation of the departments in the various levels. The proposal took into account the internal distribution and connections with the existing hospital, however, seeking to optimize and rationalize the routes and to centralize the technical rooms and vertical connections. The project also solves the most existing critical issues, namely:

  • the access and flow system
  • the arrival point, the new park and the parking lot
  • compliance with the urban planning provisions contained in the Master Plan

The access organization has been designed to separate and rationalize the pedestrian flows of visitors and operators, from the driveways of ambulances and suppliers to reduce interference and the possible intersection of contrasting flows (dirty and clean; sick and healthy).
The new access system and the new tunnel connecting the car park and the hospital entrance radically change the architectural image of the hospital. The extension offers the opportunity to make the entrances clear and visible and radically modify the elevation facing the city.

For the new body of the building it was decided to adopt a neutral architectural language, which is manifested in the facades through a predominantly horizontal scan, realized through prefabricated GFRC elements, to be traced back to the desire not to conflict with the architectural image of the existing hospital, given its strong and consolidated identity within the urban structure of Lugano.

The lower levels of the building are intended for parking and technical rooms, the upper levels are intended for hospital activities. The new base plate has an irregularly shaped plant that can be inscribed inside a 60x79m rectangle. The building consists of 4 underground levels, 2 partially underground levels and 4 levels above ground.

The foundations are deep on large diameter piles, ranging from 100 to 150 cm and a variable length according to the variable depth of the rocky layer. The structure is organized through multi-storey bidirectional frames, entirely made in cast in situ reinforced concrete, consisting of vertical elements, such as pillars, cores and walls, which are also entrusted with the resistance to horizontal seismic actions, floors made with solid slabs arranged on grids with a prevalent span of 8.65×7.90 m and a thickness of 32 cm. The building will be built after an important excavation work made possible by the construction of a bulkhead of micropiles equipped with several orders of tie rods.
A similar structural concept has been adopted for the new partially underground car park, with the difference that the slabs have spans 14.40×5.60 m, 43 cm thick and are lightened by the use of hollow spheres in polymeric material.