Tambacounda Hospital

Tambacounda Hospital - the only major hospital in the rural Tambacounda region of southeastern Senegal - is a vital resource servicing around 20,000 patients per year from the surrounding area, stretching across the border into Mali. The doctors had previously been working under extremely difficult conditions, with the original design leaving the communal spaces severely overcrowded. Manuel Herz's redesign of the new Maternity and Pediatric units brings a sense of coherence and greatly improves the comfort of patients and their visiting families. Developed after close collaboration with doctors, nurses and technicians, Herz's structure comprises a two-story building in a curvilinear form which brings two clinics - pediatrics and maternity - together under the same roof and offers approximately 150 hospital beds. The extensive length of the building allows for the smooth circulation of staff and patients and accommodates multiple communal spaces both between the rooms and in the courtyards formed by the bends of the S-curve, turning it into the truly social spine of the hospital. Several passive climate design innovations combat the challenges posed by the extremities of the local weather, and help forgo the need for air conditioning. Built with local labor and materials, the new pediatric and maternity units will vastly improve healthcare in the region, and contribute to staff retention in this remote location.