“The Future Birthplace”

A 1:1 vision of the future birthplace.

When imagination and reality meet, we can challenge our own perception of the possible and our habitual thinking in a very concrete way. This intersection was used to make hospital staff, users and architects build up the future birthplace together.

The New Nordic Hospital Zealand was entering the process of building a whole new hospital from scratch. This raised the question: “How is the future birthplace going to work when we have the chance to rethink it?” The midwives were followed in a great number of births, where their workflow was noted. Through interviews and smaller workshops, the base of a 1:1 scenography of a totally new delivery room was created. Midwives, new mothers and their partners, representatives from the product industry and the architects of the future hospital building were invited inside to enact and shape the future birthplace.

“Steps are time, and time is safety. When you need to get a child out, it is about brain cells”

Gitte, Chief midwife, participating in the project

This project lead to a rethinking of the disposition of the ward and content of the birth delivery room for the New North Zealand hospital, which is going to be finished in 2022. Through a multi-background involvement, the disposition and content are designed to accommodate both the workflow of the staff, feelings of the coming parents, and professional regards of the architects. A zone division of the room, where all these diverse needs are accommodated, is one of the main outputs of the project.

Fast forward film of 1:1 modeling workshop of the future birth room together with midwives, parents, doctors, architects, and product industry representatives: