Mikkelsen Architects and Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects created an architectural space that connect the outdoors with the indoors at the Steno Diabetes Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Scandinavia’s largest diabetes hospital, Steno Diabetes Centre Copenhagen, has been inaugurated and is now open to facilitate world-class treatment and research. The new centre redefines the way we perceive healthcare architecture, where building and landscape are interconnected, promoting well-being in a safe and biophilic environment.

The Capital Region of Denmark was given a completely new centre for the treatment and prevention of diabetes with Steno Diabetes Centre Copenhagen (SDCC). The 24,000 m2 new diabetes hospital will annually accommodate 11,000 children and adults and function as a research, education, knowledge and treatment hospital for diabetes. The hospital’s focus is to create a clear transparency for the building’s users and relatives, providing a better connected, greener and more present experience with their diabetes treatment.

When Architecture Supports Health
User involvement has been a primary focus throughout the creation of the SDCC. There has been an emphasis on ensuring special moments in the experience of arrival, waiting and encounters, through the rethinking of common areas and shifting waiting time to active time. In this sense, the centre is designed to support a natural flow around the themes of diet, exercise, and learning, within a warm and Nordic atmosphere. This is contributed by the careful consideration of materials, such as timber floors and a slatted timber ceiling, creating a homely comforting feel to the centre.

The building and the landscape at Steno Diabetes Centre Copenhagen are closely woven together and create a symbiosis between inside and out. This supports the basic vision of the architecture that puts well-being and health at the focus. SDCC is organised around four green courtyards and a public roof garden. The planted courtyards become a key contributor to the interior of the building, providing a visual connection with nature and natural light to the inner spaces, while also giving users the opportunity to roam outside through the garden spaces.

Leading in Research and Education
SDCC will set the framework for a leading centre within research and education in diabetes as well as the development of new forms of treatment for everyone with diabetes nationally and internationally.

The new SDCC was designed by Mikkelsen Architects and Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects, with STED as landscape architects, and COWI as consultant on the project.

Design: Mikkelsen Architects and Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects
Photography: Rasmus Hjortshøj