Royal Alexandra Hospital, Brighton
Encyclopedia
The Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children is a children's hospital
located within the grounds of the Royal Sussex County Hospital
in Brighton
in the English
county of East Sussex
. It provides outpatient services, inpatient facilities, intensive care and a 24-hour emergency care service for children referred by GPs
and other specialists.
The Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children originally stood on Dyke Road in the Montpelier
area of Brighton. Local architect Thomas Lainson
's red-brick and terracotta
building, in the Queen Anne style
, was opened by the Prince
and Princess of Wales
in 1881. It remained in use for more than a century before being replaced by a new building at the main Royal Sussex County Hospital site. The new facility opened in June 2007, and has won architectural awards for its innovative design.
The future of the Dyke Road site has been uncertain since the move to the new premises was first considered in 2001; Lainson's buildings and their later additions were threatened with demolition until 2009, when a developer was refused planning permission
to replace the hospital with flats. Brighton & Hove City Council's latest planning briefs state that any redevelopment of the site should incorporate Lainson's original building.
in 1851. By this time, Brighton was a rapidly growing town with a history of proactively establishing social, educational and medical institutions. In response to a meeting at Brighton Town Hall on 23 June 1868, local doctor R.P.B. Taaffe founded the town's first children's hospital, the Brighton Hospital for Sick Children, at 178 Western Road on 3 August of that year. Two years later, it moved to the former Church Hill School, a disused building on Dyke Road; Bishop of Chichester
Richard Durnford
conducted the reopening ceremony on 14 July 1871. Although this had 20 beds in the main ward, an eight-bed ward for bone disorders and an isolation ward
for infectious diseases, within ten years it was felt necessary to move to another larger building.
Thomas Lainson
, who entered practice in the early 1860s, was a prolific and eclectic local architect. By 1880, his works included residential terraces in the Italianate
style, places of worship in diverse styles (Romanesque Revival
and Neo-Byzantine), a High Gothic
working men's club
and an Italianate villa. His buildings often incorporated multicoloured brick and dressings of terracotta
. In about 1881, he went into partnership with two of his sons, Thomas J. and Arthur, who worked together as Lainson & Sons.
Lainson won the commission for the new hospital in 1880 by submitting a design for a Queen Anne style
building of red brick and terracotta. His sons joined him in designing and building it; this lasted until 1881 and cost £10,500 (£ as of ), and the hospital was formally opened on 21 July 1881. The Prince
and Princess of Wales
and their daughters Princess Louise, Princess Victoria and Princess Maud
were in attendance; Dr Taaffe changed the name of the hospital to the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children in honour of the Princess of Wales (Alexandra of Denmark). The new building stood at the junction of Dyke Road and Clifton Hill in the Montpelier
area of Brighton.
The building was added to many times; none of these changes were by Lainson & Sons. Nurses' quarters were built in 1896; a two-storey extension, with isolation and outpatient facilities, opened in 1904, increasing the capacity to 114 patients; additional wings were added in 1928 and 1945 (the latter opened by Princess Elizabeth, who later became Queen Elizabeth II); and the nurses' quarters became another ward in 1966.
Alan Milburn
allocated £28 million to move its services to the Royal Sussex County Hospital
site in Eastern Road in the Kemptown
area. The money was part of a £1,100-million hospital-building programme which the Labour government
intended to fund through the use of public–private partnerships. The scheme was put on hold for nearly a year until February 2002, when the government confirmed that £25 million was available and permitted the NHS trust
responsible for the Royal Alexandra (at the time, the Brighton Health Care NHS Trust) to seek a private finance partner
. In August 2002, the trust put the contract for the new hospital's design and construction out to competitive tender
. Applications were received from 26 companies; the trust selected a shortlist of four from these in October 2002. Architecture firm Building Design Partnership
and the European division of Japanese company Kajima were selected for the design and construction processes respectively.
paid £10 million for the site in December 2006, and planned to build a mixture of houses and flats (including some affordable housing
); they submitted a planning application for a 149-unit development incorporating a doctor's surgery, but Brighton & Hove City Council refused planning permission
in December 2008 and again (on appeal) in June 2009. The planning officer who made the decision stated that the proposed development was too large in scale for the site, affected nearby open space and appeared "bulky [and] overbearing". The majority of local residents wanted the old buildings to be retained, according to a locally produced survey earlier in 2006, and a residents' association applied to English Heritage
for the granting of listed status, which would have given protection against demolition and significant alteration. This was not granted, because Lainson's original building had been altered so much that its original architectural character had been lost, but its situation within the Montpelier and Clifton Hill conservation area
still gave some protection. (The Council's Conservation Area Character Statement of 2005 stated that the hospital was "an important part of Brighton life and a well known local landmark".) In March 2010, the council published a planning statement which required the main building (Lainson's original) to be retained as part of any future redevelopment of the site. Later buildings, such as the former nurses' accommodation, were not covered by this.
had to be demolished; it was rebuilt on top of the multi-storey car park.
The new hospital won an award for the "Operational Project with the Best Design" at the Public Private Finance Awards in 2008, and won the 2008 Prime Minister's Better Public Building Award—a government award sponsored by the Office of Government Commerce
and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
. Judges considered that the design was cleverly executed on a difficult site, and incorporated elements appropriate to its seaside setting.
As of , the Royal Alexandra Hospital is one of seven children's hospitals in Great Britain.
's building of 1880–81 was in a Shavian
interpretation of the Queen Anne style
, which he and his sons used again in later buildings in the area (such as the Belgrave Hotel of 1882 and in their work on the Vallance Estate in Hove
in the early 1890s). The three-storey building is mostly of red brick with some terracotta
dressings. Lainson made extensive use of ornate decorative mouldings
on the east-facing main façade, which is not symmetrical and has a Dutch gable
. Another decorative feature was a cartouche
which commemorated the Royal Family members present at the opening. The south-facing secondary façade has conventional gable
s, large chimneys and a pair of cupola
-topped turrets at one end. Another local firm, Clayton & Black, added a colonnade
on this side in 1906. In 1927, the north side was extended in a style which matched Lainson's work: W.H. Overton's design included gables with half-timbering and tile-hanging. The 1904 extension, consisting of isolation facilities and outpatients' accommodation, was in the Vernacular/Domestic style
with half-timbered gables with jettying
, prominent mullion
s and transoms
to the bay window
s, and a small tower.
The new hospital, designed by Building Design Partnership
, is in the form of an ark
, and has a "nautical theme" appropriate to the seafront location. The exterior has curved corners and is clad in white precast concrete
, intended to evoke the painted stucco
which is closely associated with Brighton's seafront Regency architecture
. The fenestration is irregular: many windows are at a low level to improve visibility for children. The building has a naturally lit central atrium
.
(styled Princess Alexandra of Kent until 1963).
Children's hospital
A children's hospital is a hospital which offers its services exclusively to children . The number of children's hospitals proliferated in the 20th century, as pediatric medical and surgical specialties separated from internal medicine and adult surgical specialties...
located within the grounds of the Royal Sussex County Hospital
Royal Sussex County Hospital
The Royal Sussex County Hospital is an acute teaching hospital in Brighton, England. Together with the Princess Royal Hospital , it is administered by the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust...
in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
in the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
county of East Sussex
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
. It provides outpatient services, inpatient facilities, intensive care and a 24-hour emergency care service for children referred by GPs
General practitioner
A general practitioner is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities...
and other specialists.
The Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children originally stood on Dyke Road in the Montpelier
Montpelier, Brighton
Montpelier is an inner suburban area of Brighton, part of the English city and seaside resort of Brighton and Hove. Developed together with the adjacent Clifton Hill area in the mid-19th century, it forms a high-class, architecturally cohesive residential district with "an exceptionally complete...
area of Brighton. Local architect Thomas Lainson
Thomas Lainson
Thomas Lainson was a British architect. He is best known for his work in the East Sussex coastal towns of Brighton and Hove , where several of his eclectic range of residential, commercial and religious buildings have been awarded listed status by English Heritage...
's red-brick and terracotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
building, in the Queen Anne style
Queen Anne Style architecture
The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...
, was opened by the Prince
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
and Princess of Wales
Alexandra of Denmark
Alexandra of Denmark was the wife of Edward VII of the United Kingdom...
in 1881. It remained in use for more than a century before being replaced by a new building at the main Royal Sussex County Hospital site. The new facility opened in June 2007, and has won architectural awards for its innovative design.
The future of the Dyke Road site has been uncertain since the move to the new premises was first considered in 2001; Lainson's buildings and their later additions were threatened with demolition until 2009, when a developer was refused planning permission
Planning permission
Planning permission or planning consent is the permission required in the United Kingdom in order to be allowed to build on land, or change the use of land or buildings. Within the UK the occupier of any land or building will need title to that land or building , but will also need "planning...
to replace the hospital with flats. Brighton & Hove City Council's latest planning briefs state that any redevelopment of the site should incorporate Lainson's original building.
Western Road and Dyke Road
Hospitals dedicated to the treatment of children have existed in England since the mid-19th century: the first opened in LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
in 1851. By this time, Brighton was a rapidly growing town with a history of proactively establishing social, educational and medical institutions. In response to a meeting at Brighton Town Hall on 23 June 1868, local doctor R.P.B. Taaffe founded the town's first children's hospital, the Brighton Hospital for Sick Children, at 178 Western Road on 3 August of that year. Two years later, it moved to the former Church Hill School, a disused building on Dyke Road; Bishop of Chichester
Bishop of Chichester
The Bishop of Chichester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the Counties of East and West Sussex. The see is in the City of Chichester where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity...
Richard Durnford
Richard Durnford
The Rt Rev Richard Durnford was the Bishop of Chichester from 1870 to 1895.He was born in Newbury, Berkshire into an ecclesiastical family . He was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford and ordained in 1831. From 1833 he was Rector of Middleton, Lancashire and then its Rural Dean...
conducted the reopening ceremony on 14 July 1871. Although this had 20 beds in the main ward, an eight-bed ward for bone disorders and an isolation ward
Isolation ward (medicine)
In hospitals and other medical facilities, an isolation ward is a separate ward used to isolate patients suffering from infectious diseases. Several wards for individual patients are usually placed together in an isolation unit.-Design:...
for infectious diseases, within ten years it was felt necessary to move to another larger building.
Thomas Lainson
Thomas Lainson
Thomas Lainson was a British architect. He is best known for his work in the East Sussex coastal towns of Brighton and Hove , where several of his eclectic range of residential, commercial and religious buildings have been awarded listed status by English Heritage...
, who entered practice in the early 1860s, was a prolific and eclectic local architect. By 1880, his works included residential terraces in the Italianate
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
style, places of worship in diverse styles (Romanesque Revival
Romanesque Revival architecture
Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...
and Neo-Byzantine), a High Gothic
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
working men's club
Pelham Institute
The Pelham Institute is a former working men's club and multipurpose social venue in the Kemptown area of Brighton, part of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove...
and an Italianate villa. His buildings often incorporated multicoloured brick and dressings of terracotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
. In about 1881, he went into partnership with two of his sons, Thomas J. and Arthur, who worked together as Lainson & Sons.
Lainson won the commission for the new hospital in 1880 by submitting a design for a Queen Anne style
Queen Anne Style architecture
The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...
building of red brick and terracotta. His sons joined him in designing and building it; this lasted until 1881 and cost £10,500 (£ as of ), and the hospital was formally opened on 21 July 1881. The Prince
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
and Princess of Wales
Alexandra of Denmark
Alexandra of Denmark was the wife of Edward VII of the United Kingdom...
and their daughters Princess Louise, Princess Victoria and Princess Maud
Maud of Wales
Princess Maud of Wales was Queen of Norway as spouse of King Haakon VII. She was a member of the British Royal Family as the youngest daughter of Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark and granddaughter of Queen Victoria and also of Christian IX of Denmark. She was the younger sister of George V...
were in attendance; Dr Taaffe changed the name of the hospital to the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children in honour of the Princess of Wales (Alexandra of Denmark). The new building stood at the junction of Dyke Road and Clifton Hill in the Montpelier
Montpelier, Brighton
Montpelier is an inner suburban area of Brighton, part of the English city and seaside resort of Brighton and Hove. Developed together with the adjacent Clifton Hill area in the mid-19th century, it forms a high-class, architecturally cohesive residential district with "an exceptionally complete...
area of Brighton.
The building was added to many times; none of these changes were by Lainson & Sons. Nurses' quarters were built in 1896; a two-storey extension, with isolation and outpatient facilities, opened in 1904, increasing the capacity to 114 patients; additional wings were added in 1928 and 1945 (the latter opened by Princess Elizabeth, who later became Queen Elizabeth II); and the nurses' quarters became another ward in 1966.
Plans for a new hospital
The first proposal to relocate the hospital came in 2001, when the Secretary of State for HealthSecretary of State for Health
Secretary of State for Health is a UK cabinet position responsible for the Department of Health.The first Boards of Health were created by Orders in Council dated 21 June, 14 November, and 21 November 1831. In 1848 a General Board of Health was created with the First Commissioner of Woods and...
Alan Milburn
Alan Milburn
Alan Milburn is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Darlington from 1992 until 2010...
allocated £28 million to move its services to the Royal Sussex County Hospital
Royal Sussex County Hospital
The Royal Sussex County Hospital is an acute teaching hospital in Brighton, England. Together with the Princess Royal Hospital , it is administered by the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust...
site in Eastern Road in the Kemptown
Kemptown
Kemptown is a small community running along the King's Cliff to Black Rock in the east of Brighton, East Sussex, England.-History:The area takes its name from Thomas Read Kemp's Kemp Town residential estate of the early 19th Century, but the one-word name now refers to an area larger than the...
area. The money was part of a £1,100-million hospital-building programme which the Labour government
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
intended to fund through the use of public–private partnerships. The scheme was put on hold for nearly a year until February 2002, when the government confirmed that £25 million was available and permitted the NHS trust
NHS Trust
A National Health Service trust provides services on behalf of the National Health Service in England and NHS Wales.The trusts are not trusts in the legal sense but are in effect public sector corporations. Each trust is headed by a board consisting of executive and non-executive directors, and is...
responsible for the Royal Alexandra (at the time, the Brighton Health Care NHS Trust) to seek a private finance partner
Private Finance Initiative
The private finance initiative is a way of creating "public–private partnerships" by funding public infrastructure projects with private capital...
. In August 2002, the trust put the contract for the new hospital's design and construction out to competitive tender
Procurement
Procurement is the acquisition of goods or services. It is favourable that the goods/services are appropriate and that they are procured at the best possible cost to meet the needs of the purchaser in terms of quality and quantity, time, and location...
. Applications were received from 26 companies; the trust selected a shortlist of four from these in October 2002. Architecture firm Building Design Partnership
Building Design Partnership
Building Design Partnership is a firm of architects and engineers employing over 1200 staff in the UK and internationally.-Foundation:The firm was founded in 1961 by George Grenfell Baines with architects Bill White and John Wilkinson, quantity surveyor Arnold Towler and eight associate partners:...
and the European division of Japanese company Kajima were selected for the design and construction processes respectively.
Recent history of the Dyke Road site
Details of the new building were announced in January 2004—at which point it was also stated that Lainson's buildings on the Dyke Road site would be demolished. Three operating theatres, an intensive care unit, X-ray facilities and 100 beds were planned. Meanwhile, developers expressed interest in the Dyke Road site, hoping to acquire and demolish the hospital and redevelop the prime central location with flats. Housebuilder Taylor WimpeyTaylor Wimpey
Taylor Wimpey plc is one of the largest British based housebuilding companies. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index...
paid £10 million for the site in December 2006, and planned to build a mixture of houses and flats (including some affordable housing
Affordable housing
Affordable housing is a term used to describe dwelling units whose total housing costs are deemed "affordable" to those that have a median income. Although the term is often applied to rental housing that is within the financial means of those in the lower income ranges of a geographical area, the...
); they submitted a planning application for a 149-unit development incorporating a doctor's surgery, but Brighton & Hove City Council refused planning permission
Planning permission
Planning permission or planning consent is the permission required in the United Kingdom in order to be allowed to build on land, or change the use of land or buildings. Within the UK the occupier of any land or building will need title to that land or building , but will also need "planning...
in December 2008 and again (on appeal) in June 2009. The planning officer who made the decision stated that the proposed development was too large in scale for the site, affected nearby open space and appeared "bulky [and] overbearing". The majority of local residents wanted the old buildings to be retained, according to a locally produced survey earlier in 2006, and a residents' association applied to English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
for the granting of listed status, which would have given protection against demolition and significant alteration. This was not granted, because Lainson's original building had been altered so much that its original architectural character had been lost, but its situation within the Montpelier and Clifton Hill conservation area
Conservation Area (United Kingdom)
In the United Kingdom, the term Conservation Area nearly always applies to an area considered worthy of preservation or enhancement because of its special architectural or historic interest, "the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance," as required by the Planning ...
still gave some protection. (The Council's Conservation Area Character Statement of 2005 stated that the hospital was "an important part of Brighton life and a well known local landmark".) In March 2010, the council published a planning statement which required the main building (Lainson's original) to be retained as part of any future redevelopment of the site. Later buildings, such as the former nurses' accommodation, were not covered by this.
Royal Sussex County Hospital site
Construction of the new hospital started in July 2004 and cost £36 million. The new building opened in June 2007, and the Dyke Road site was officially closed on 22 June 2007. To make way for the new facilities, the Royal Sussex County Hospital's renal unitKidney
The kidneys, organs with several functions, serve essential regulatory roles in most animals, including vertebrates and some invertebrates. They are essential in the urinary system and also serve homeostatic functions such as the regulation of electrolytes, maintenance of acid–base balance, and...
had to be demolished; it was rebuilt on top of the multi-storey car park.
The new hospital won an award for the "Operational Project with the Best Design" at the Public Private Finance Awards in 2008, and won the 2008 Prime Minister's Better Public Building Award—a government award sponsored by the Office of Government Commerce
Office of Government Commerce
The Office of Government Commerce is part of the Efficiency and Reform Group of the Cabinet Office, a department of the Government of the United Kingdom...
and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment was an executive non-departmental public body of the UK government, established in 1999. It was funded by both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Communities and Local Government.-Function:CABE was the...
. Judges considered that the design was cleverly executed on a difficult site, and incorporated elements appropriate to its seaside setting.
As of , the Royal Alexandra Hospital is one of seven children's hospitals in Great Britain.
Architecture
Thomas LainsonThomas Lainson
Thomas Lainson was a British architect. He is best known for his work in the East Sussex coastal towns of Brighton and Hove , where several of his eclectic range of residential, commercial and religious buildings have been awarded listed status by English Heritage...
's building of 1880–81 was in a Shavian
Richard Norman Shaw
Richard Norman Shaw RA , was an influential Scottish architect from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings.-Life:...
interpretation of the Queen Anne style
Queen Anne Style architecture
The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...
, which he and his sons used again in later buildings in the area (such as the Belgrave Hotel of 1882 and in their work on the Vallance Estate in Hove
Hove
Hove is a town on the south coast of England, immediately to the west of its larger neighbour Brighton, with which it forms the unitary authority Brighton and Hove. It forms a single conurbation together with Brighton and some smaller towns and villages running along the coast...
in the early 1890s). The three-storey building is mostly of red brick with some terracotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
dressings. Lainson made extensive use of ornate decorative mouldings
Molding (decorative)
Molding or moulding is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster but may be made from plastic or reformed wood...
on the east-facing main façade, which is not symmetrical and has a Dutch gable
Dutch gable
A Dutch gable or Flemish gable is a gable whose sides have a shape made up of one or more curves and has a pediment at the top. The gable may be an entirely decorative projection above a flat section of roof line, or may be the termination of a roof, like a normal gable...
. Another decorative feature was a cartouche
Cartouche
In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an ellipse with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name, coming into use during the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty under Pharaoh Sneferu, replacing the earlier serekh...
which commemorated the Royal Family members present at the opening. The south-facing secondary façade has conventional gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
s, large chimneys and a pair of cupola
Cupola
In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
-topped turrets at one end. Another local firm, Clayton & Black, added a colonnade
Colonnade
In classical architecture, a colonnade denotes a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building....
on this side in 1906. In 1927, the north side was extended in a style which matched Lainson's work: W.H. Overton's design included gables with half-timbering and tile-hanging. The 1904 extension, consisting of isolation facilities and outpatients' accommodation, was in the Vernacular/Domestic style
Vernacular architecture
Vernacular architecture is a term used to categorize methods of construction which use locally available resources and traditions to address local needs and circumstances. Vernacular architecture tends to evolve over time to reflect the environmental, cultural and historical context in which it...
with half-timbered gables with jettying
Jettying
Jettying is a building technique used in medieval timber frame buildings in which an upper floor projects beyond the dimensions of the floor below. This has the advantage of increasing the available space in the building without obstructing the street...
, prominent mullion
Mullion
A mullion is a vertical structural element which divides adjacent window units. The primary purpose of the mullion is as a structural support to an arch or lintel above the window opening. Its secondary purpose may be as a rigid support to the glazing of the window...
s and transoms
Transom (architectural)
In architecture, a transom is the term given to a transverse beam or bar in a frame, or to the crosspiece separating a door or the like from a window or fanlight above it. Transom is also the customary U.S. word used for a transom light, the window over this crosspiece...
to the bay window
Bay window
A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room, either square or polygonal in plan. The angles most commonly used on the inside corners of the bay are 90, 135 and 150 degrees. Bay windows are often associated with Victorian architecture...
s, and a small tower.
The new hospital, designed by Building Design Partnership
Building Design Partnership
Building Design Partnership is a firm of architects and engineers employing over 1200 staff in the UK and internationally.-Foundation:The firm was founded in 1961 by George Grenfell Baines with architects Bill White and John Wilkinson, quantity surveyor Arnold Towler and eight associate partners:...
, is in the form of an ark
Ark
Ark is a Latin-based word that means a "box" or container. Ark may refer to:-Religion:* Ark , a cabinet used to store a synagogue's Torah scroll* Ark of the Covenant, the consecrated container for the tablets of the Ten Commandments...
, and has a "nautical theme" appropriate to the seafront location. The exterior has curved corners and is clad in white precast concrete
Precast concrete
By producing precast concrete in a controlled environment , the precast concrete is afforded the opportunity to properly cure and be closely monitored by plant employees. Utilizing a Precast Concrete system offers many potential advantages over site casting of concrete...
, intended to evoke the painted stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
which is closely associated with Brighton's seafront Regency architecture
Regency architecture
The Regency style of architecture refers primarily to buildings built in Britain during the period in the early 19th century when George IV was Prince Regent, and also to later buildings following the same style...
. The fenestration is irregular: many windows are at a low level to improve visibility for children. The building has a naturally lit central atrium
Atrium (architecture)
In modern architecture, an atrium is a large open space, often several stories high and having a glazed roof and/or large windows, often situated within a larger multistory building and often located immediately beyond the main entrance doors...
.
Patron
Since 1954, the hospital's patron has been Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady OgilvyPrincess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy
Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy is the youngest granddaughter of King George V of the United Kingdom and Mary of Teck. She is the widow of Sir Angus Ogilvy...
(styled Princess Alexandra of Kent until 1963).