CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, Park Associati and Politecnica Building for Humans, with Openfabric, DOTDOTDOT, Studio Mattioli and Eckersley O’Callaghan, have won the international competition for the new Main Hospital and Children’s Hospital in Brescia. The project revisits the long-standing idea of the hospital as an isolated institution. Instead, it builds on a One Health approach and explores how healthcare can become part of a broader ecosystem connecting nature, research and everyday life.
The new Main Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Brescia draw a new ring around the existing campus. The CareRing design connects people, nature and healthcare through the principles of One Health—the idea that human health, environmental health and social wellbeing are inseparable. Patients, staff and visitors move as much through gardens and public spaces as through architecture. At the heart of the campus, a sweeping curved lobby opens onto a new public piazza facing the Alps and reconnecting the hospital with the city.
The proposal grows from the existing hospital. The project preserves and extends the radial plan first conceived by engineer Angelo Bordoni in the early twentieth century, whose hexagonal masterplan established the identity of the Spedali Civili. The new design reinterprets this geometry while preparing the campus for future models of care. Healthcare, research and public life become increasingly interconnected. Over time, the historic pavilions will be progressively transformed into spaces for academic activity, research and innovation, creating stronger links between clinical practice, education and the wider community.
The Main Hospital brings together clinical services, treatment spaces and advanced medical technologies across approximately 60,500 square meters, accommodating more than 745 beds. Its three wings open toward the city while framing views of the surrounding mountains. Developed together with Eckersley O’Callaghan, the façade combines solar control with high environmental performance, reducing glare while maximizing daylight and outward views. Patient rooms are designed to support recovery through natural light, acoustic comfort, balanced proportions and direct visual connections to the landscape. At the end of each wing, glazed winter gardens extend the experience of nature deep into the building. A discreet digital layer developed with DOTDOTDOT supports intelligent wayfinding, flow management and environmental monitoring throughout the campus.
Adjacent to the Main Hospital, the Children’s Hospital establishes its own identity through three interconnected cylindrical volumes of varying heights. Their rounded geometry reflects children’s perception of space, creating welcoming and easily navigable spaces. Courtyards, terraces and gardens are woven throughout the building, ensuring that nature remains constantly present in patients’ daily experience. The entrance atrium opens onto shared play areas, consultation spaces and family gathering areas, fostering an environment where treatment and everyday life coexist.
Stretching for more than one kilometer, an outside ring unites the entire campus into a single continuous system. Below ground, it accommodates logistics, technical infrastructure and hospital services, separating operational flows to improve efficiency and safety. At ground level, the ring becomes a public landscape connecting squares, therapeutic gardens and green corridors. Designed with Openfabric, the green level supports biodiversity, improves the site’s microclimate and transforms the hospital into an extension of the surrounding city.
Project developed by Park Associati, CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati and Politecnica Building for Humans, with Openfabric, DOTDOTDOT, Eckersley O’Callaghan and Studio Mattioli.