Project Background:
Over 50 years ago, on the equator in a rainforest in
Borneo, a new missionary hospital was begun.
Now, the
Bethesda Hospital serves the villages of 70 Dayak tribes with every kind of medical care, surgery, and
public health training. The campus also includes a
nursing school.
Over the years however, the buildings have deteriorated as result of the harsh jungle climate.
Into this setting, Ministry Architecture, Inc.
www.ministryarchitecture.com was invited, in 2008, to help with building assessments and designs, according to their commitment to “serve ministries in
developing countries”.
Now, there is a need to replace the obsolete and abandoned surgery building with a new and modern Surgery Center.
Partnering with volunteers from the Denver chapter of
Architecture for Humanity, along with other volunteers worked with Len Rosenberg, AIA, of Ministry Architecture, Inc. to develop a sustainable and functional building concept, and to produce renderings and documents which would generate a better understanding of the project for local builders, and to draw financial support for the project.
This project consists of the Surgery Center addition to the Bethesda Medical Campus that provides health care at missionary station headquarters. The services include: Clinics, Emergency, Surgery, ICU, Pediatrics, OB/GYN, three other levels of care for poor, middle, and VIPS, In patient building, Out patient building, Nursing College, and medical missionary services to 70 indigenous villages.
Architecture for Humanity volunteers produced design development documents based on the preliminary sketches provided by ministry architecture. Those drawings were further developed by engineers and design professionals both locally in
Denver and in Indonesia to produce construction documents for a local builder.
The concept aimed to create a space which would provide the necessary spaces to the Bethesda Hospital, while keeping in mind affordability and local construction techniques. The existing site vernacular is largely climate driven, which leads to choices such as the deep overhanging roofs, and the the vented hip-roofs.
After developing elevations from an initial set of plans, a 3D model was created to better demonstrate the project vision.
