Architektura Szpitala Miejskiego w Gdańsku Wrzeszczu

Abstrakt

The Municipal Hospital Complex in Gdańsk was erected to the design of the municipal architect Karl Fehlhaber in 1907–11. The complex replaced the hospital operating by Brama Oliwska (Olivaer Tor) and the surgical unit functioning at Sandgrube. Initially, the new hospital comprised 26 units and offered beds for 807 patients. It combined the advantages of the pavilion system with the benefits of a modern multi‑storey building. The system of pavilion hospitals, popular in Germany from the second half of the 19th century until the end of World War I, facilitated an easy isolation of patients and allowed permanent access to light and fresh air. The use of elements of pavilion architecture in the Municipal Hospital made it possible to separate patients suffering from infectious diseases from the other ones. At the same time, modern, several‑storey high buildings were built for the needs of the complex. They housed patient rooms, which enabled easy transport of patients (indispensable for the 20thcentury diagnostics and treatment), and were much easier and cheaper to maintain. The grand residential buildings and the office building were located in the front part of the complex. Simple in form, the other buildings were excellently prepared to fulfil their functions. The façades of both medical and non‑medical units had almost no ornaments, with the exception of high windows and painted eaves. The simple forms and the functionalism of these buildings can be interpreted as a harbinger of modernism. During the subsequent decades the hospital was rebuilt several times, but some of its original buildings are still used for medical purposes.