HASSELL undertook the task of designing the expanded public hospital space at Karratha Health Campus in Karratha, Australia.

The Karratha Health Campus is the biggest investment in a public hospital ever undertaken in regional WA. It has an expanded emergency department, a brand new surgical centre, new delivery suites and maternity wing, world-class Telehealth services, new and expanded outpatients and essential services such as child health and medical imaging, all under one roof.

The Karratha Health Campus will improve health service access and outcomes to the residents of Karratha and the wider catchment. Importantly, the new facilities will provide contemporary healthcare facilities for staff; offering opportunities for a safer more collaborative workplace, increased efficiency and improvement in workforce attraction and retention.

Clinical, non-clinical and support services are organized around independent non-public and public circulation corridors in a manner which maximizes both clinical and operational efficiencies and affords excellent separation of non-public and public movement pathways. Both corridors pass through courtyards and the main hospital entry atrium providing daylight, outlook and key wayfinding ‘markers’.

Patient, staff and visitor exposure to natural light, outlook, access to external space and positive distractions. Widely researched, these simple principles have proven results in improving patient wellbeing and recovery, enhancing workplace stress and calming visitors.

A key element of the hospital is the three large internal courtyards that are orientated around the three entries. Each of these generous spaces is designed to function as a lush oasis with a different palate of materials compared to the landscape outside, including mature frangipani trees transplanted from the old Nickol Bay Hospital, paying homage to its heritage.

The external color palate has also taken inspiration from the surrounding landscape with silver greens and golds, and yellows referencing the eucalyptus, wattle, and cassia shrub. Internally these colors have also been used as a way-finding tool to ease navigation around the hospital.

The green defining the southern Ambulatory Care Entry, the gold defining the Main Entry, and blues and greens for the Indian Ocean in the Emergency Entry to the north.

Art has also played a major role throughout the hospital where local, interstate, and international artists with a connection to the Pilbara region, were invited to contribute to wayfinding, murals, framed hallway art, and a massive community tile installation. In total there are more than 50 artworks spread throughout the precinct.

Architect: HASSELL
Photography: Robert Firth, Douglas Mark Black