Bologna, 14 June 2024 – “We architects interpret, you pediatricians will always be there. Humanly it was the most difficult challenge we have ever undertaken. Science, like art and like solidarity are choral acts”. After taking a walk around his creation and admiring what he had achieved, the architect Renzo Pianowho was entrusted with the design, presented the L’Arca sull’Albero Pediatric Hospicedesigned by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) studio and financed by the Maria Teresa Chiantore Seràgnoli Onlus Hospice Foundation and with the aim of improving the quality of life of children and adolescents and their families, assisting them with respect for human particulars, in a dedicated place like this.
Fourteen rooms, from 0 to 18 years and family members in the 8 accommodations dedicated to them, 8350 square meters of space, 50 health and social-health workers and the staff responsible for general services. A real community made up of a multiplicity of human figures who will operate by implementing the English organizational model: qualified assistance, where taking care of the patient and family represents the profound meaning of the therapeutic process. The complex is accredited by the NHS as the regional reference center for the provision of services Pediatric Palliative Care of the Region and for pain therapy.
The Ark on the Tree, the new pediatric hospice designed by Renzo Piano
An emotional Piano, in describing his ‘creature’, also quotes Italo Calvino’s Baron in the Trees: “the baron goes out and lives all his life in the trees. This is how this project was born, looking at these trees you immediately think that it must be a house among the trees. That is, every child’s dream”. Then, it was thought of as a symbol of community of men and nature and, also with the help and mastery of Francesco Tullio Altan, the house became the suspended ark on the tree, where one can find relief surrounded by the magic of a forest surrounded by Savena, beyond the color of the rooms and the building that recalls the trees.
Renzo Piano talks about his ‘creature’: the new pediatric hospice “my most difficult challenge”
“They have taken away our beauty and no one talks about it. This strong emotion is represented here, which especially applies to things you don’t see. I have the duty to do this thing with love because the excellence of the construction represents the dignity of a gift”, states Piano. In Italy there is a need for 35 thousand beds in Italy for the palliative care of children and only 15% are met between North and South, in seven structures. This is number eight, and it is also the most innovative: the use of light, the bridges that look like branches and connect with the various spaces and careful to build with natural elements relationships within the hospice.
The facade of the Ark on the Tree, the pediatric hospice surrounded by greenery
“Here the dignity of the patient, taking care of him, is an integral and founding part of the therapeutic process. The cure is taking charge, responding for others for the purpose of their good. The cure is the action of the human being with the primary intention to do good for the Other. The treatment of pain is not only treatment of physical pain, but also of psychological pain, and is attention to the situation of the person and his family”, declares Isabella Seràgnoli, mind of the foundation. A project that saw the light after the first stone was laid in 2019, the idea, however, was born some time before. This is how Piano praises Isabella Seràgnoli: «For this project we crossed the Far West with a beautiful caravan. In five years everything has happened to us, then you get to the end and you have the strength to say that this building is a portrait of Seràgnoli. A person who gets to the center of things.”
The new pediatric hospice designed by Renzo Piano
After passing through the initial reception area, Stefano Russo, architect and associate from Renzo Piano’s studio, told us about the various spaces of the ark and accompanied us among the branches. “A house with a very important technological component. A simple, sober, choral, ergonomic and usable job, but which primarily serves to make children feel good”, says Russo. The building is spread over 4 floors and in several sections connected by light overhead connections to the main central body. Two satellites on the south side host eight accommodations intended to accommodate the patients’ families while on the opposite side two polarities of a more intimate and meditative nature have been envisaged. The importance also lies in the lights and greenery which “translate well – recalls Russo – the concept of suspension”.
The new pediatric hospice in Bologna, a view from above
American cedar wood was used for the walls for a clean, simple and clear building with few colours, few materials, which when combined give the idea of simplicity: “We have to make the people feel good in here – continues Russo -. We did it with our own means and in the most correct manner.” Beauty is everywhere, even in the porthole to see the stars inside the children’s rooms. There is a farewell room, a meditative and multi-denominational space, as well as a corner for art therapy and music therapy, or for watching a film. “We take charge of the child and the management of the parent. The bridge is a branch and a moment of detachment and psychological relief”, concludes Russo. The ground floor is dedicated to the entrance spaces, reception and outpatient activities; the first floor presents spaces for shelters, catering activities and recreational activities; and the basement level. There are 4 types of hospitalization in the facility: intermediate, family relief and management, critical causes and difficult to control symptoms and end of life. Finally, in terms of energy saving, a photovoltaic system has been created to cover the main volumes, such as to satisfy one third of the estimated annual consumption for the entire complex which has obtained LEED platinum certification for the set of sustainability characteristics with which the property is built.
