Carlo Ratti and Park Associati to redevelop Italian hospital by linking architecture and healing

A team led by Carlo Ratti Associati, Park Associati, and Politecnica Building for Humans has won the international competition to redevelop the Main and Children’s Hospital at Spedali Civili in Brescia, Italy. The proposal reimagines one of Lombardy’s principal healthcare institutions as an integrated campus combining clinical care, medical research, education, and public space. 

The design of the scheme is based on the One Health framework, which emphasizes the relationship between human health, environmental systems, and social wellbeing. Building on the historic campus plan designed by Angelo Bordoni, the proposal reorganizes healthcare functions into new contemporary buildings while adapting existing pavilion structures for academic and research uses linked to the nearby Faculty of Medicine.

The new main hospital is designed as a transparent structure centered around a continuous glazed lobby that opens onto a new public square. The design prioritizes natural daylight, clear circulation, and views toward the Prealps as part of a broader healing strategy intended to improve the patient experience.

The children’s hospital is conceived at a smaller scale, comprising three cylindrical buildings organized around internal courtyards and healing gardens that integrate landscape into the care environment. The proposal also introduces a continuous “Green Ring” that organizes movement, logistics, and landscape across the campus. 

Underground, the ring accommodates technical infrastructure and service routes, while at ground level it forms a network of public spaces and green areas designed by Openfabric, strengthening connections between the hospital and the surrounding city.

The campus is planned with a hybrid timber and steel structural system, alongside digital technologies developed with Dotdotdot and facade engineering by Eckersley O’Callaghan. The structural systems and technology approach intends to create a “flexible and future-ready architecture,” the team notes.