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Universitair Psychiatrisch Centrum KU Leuven

About

The KU Leuven psychiatric care centre has 5 floors circling a central winter garden. The psychiatric centre has 90 hospital beds (day and night), an outpatient centre with day hospitalisation, and administrative rooms.

Challenge

Establish an ecological admissions centre that offers high-quality care to patients with emotional, psychological, or psychiatric problems.

Solution

The use of thermal insulation in the building envelope results in a K40 building. A motorised conservatory roof over the winter garden provides a thermal buffer between the inside and outside during the winter months. Energy-efficient lighting reduces energy consumption.

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Client(s)

  • Leuven University Hospitals

Architect(s)

  • Stephane Beel Architecten

Location

Leuven, Belgium

Timeline

2010

2015

Expertise Team(s)

  • M&E Engineering

  • Sustainable Design

  • View more...

Design Solution(en)

  • Feasibility Study

  • Building Simulations

  • Building physics

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Mental leuven uz psychiatry 9

Vanuit een integrale ontwerpbenadering konden de duurzame en technische oplossingen van VK naadloos geïntegreerd worden.

Karel Sergooris

senior project engineer M&E, VK architects+engineers

This psychiatric patient center for adults and elderly people consists of 90 hospitalisation beds (day and night), an ambulant center with day hospital for 25 additional patients, with the related consultation, therapy and conversation spaces, and with the administration. Part of the patient rooms are equipped with medical gas fittings. The building has 5 layers, enclosing a central winter garden, as an additional protected living space for the patients. An integrated design approach enabled for VK's sustainable and technical solutions to be integrated seamlessly.

A motorised glazed roof covering the winter garden during the winter months creates a thermal buffer between the indoors and the outdoors. During summer, temperature rises in the winter garden can be regulated, with a maximum rise of 3°C on top of the outdoor temperature, by completely opening the roof and through automated solar protection.

A well thought-out thermal insulation of the building envelope results in a building with excellent airtightness, while dynamic outdoor solar protection strongly reduces the cooling charges inside the building. The central air groups are equipped with a heat exchanger. Heating and cooling are delivered by the central energy plant of the Gasthuisberg-site.

Energy consumption for electricity is further reduced by energy efficient lighting.

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