The new psychiatric hospital in Slagelse was inaugurated by Her Royal Highness crown princess Mary on August 24, 2015

The project has been through an extensive user cooperation involving patients, families, and staff.

Healing architecture has been a guiding principle for the construction. The patients have access to outdoor areas, nature, and they are surrounded by natural light, stimulating colors, and materials.

The hospital is based on openness between outside and inside, and there is outdoor access from all common areas. The park surrounding the psychiatric hospital is publicly available. This reduces the patient’s feeling of being trapped, and they will experience greater freedom of movement and attachment to the surrounding community.

Transparency and openness support the patients’ experience of the staff’s availability and presence. It contributes to patient safety and tranquility.

The patients have single rooms with private bathroom and the constant option to retire to private zones with permanent visual contact with the garden.

Intelligent LED lighting is applied everywhere to recreate the natural color change of daylight through the day. This ensures optimal lighting conditions for patients and staff, along with plenty of daylight.

The artist Malene Landgreen and poet Ursula Andkjær Olsen have both been in charge of the decoration of the walls, respectively the color scheme and poetry.

The 194 beds of the psychiatric hospital will be distributed between 114 public psychiatric seats, 50 forensic psychiatric seats, and 30 seats to the Security Department. In addition to this, there is an emergency department, ambulant treatment options, and research facilities. In total, the hospital will functions as the workplace for about 650 employees.

The new psychiatric hospital is designed by Karlsson Architects, who won the design contest in collaboration with Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects in 2010.

Facts

• Area: 44,000m2
• Project sum: 1.05 billion. DKK
• Number of employees: Approximately 650
• Number of beds: 194
• Advisor Team: Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects, Karlsson Architects, Signal architects, Schønherr, Moe, NNE Pharmaplan and Cenergia Energy Consultants

The focus has been on sustainability, and the project is expected to have a DGNB Silver certification.