Buildings

Children's psychiatric centre

EFLA was commissioned to provide a range of services relating to the design of a facility for children and teenagers with psychiatric problems. 


The building's upper floors include offices and the reception, whereas the ground floor has wards and a cafeteria. A footbridge connects the building to an existing older building and overlooks a small pond. 

About this Project

Client
Government Construction Contracting Agency

Partners
Arkís architects, Landhönnun landscaping architects 

Timespan
2006-2008 

Location
Reykjavík, Iceland

Contact

The project's objective

The three-storey structure is formed with cast-in-place concrete and has a total area of 1,244 m2. The structure is founded on a 2-4 m thick compacted gravel pad on top of bedrock.

Ventilation is important when it comes to health care facilities. A well-designed ventilation system can reduce the risk of bacteria spreading between patients and can influence their wellbeing. Heating is partially provided with radiators and partially with floor heating. The outdoor areas have snow melting systems. The fire safety design fulfils special requirements due to the open space between floors.

A thorough acoustic design was performed to provide proper acoustics in the building. An acoustical model was made of a big meeting room with the room acoustic software Odeon. Acoustical materials were placed in the ceiling and on walls to achieve a reverberation time of approximately 0.7 s. Speech transmission index was estimated as well. 

The reverberation time was evaluated in relevant rooms in the building, to ensure it was suitable for the rooms' intended use. Noise from technical equipment was also evaluated. For rooms with a noise sensitive purpose, special mitigations were used to fulfil strict requirements for sound insulation. 

EFLA's role

  • Structural design
  • Electrical design
  • Fire safety design
  • Heating, ventilation and air conditioning design
  • Plumbing
  • Acoustic design