University Cancer Institute Toulouse Oncopole / Jean-Paul Viguier et Associés

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Text description provided by the architects. The aim of the architectural, landscaping and planning programme at Oncopole is to convert a site formerly occupied by the AZF chemical works and the military into a leafy 220-hectare campus, including a public park covering 30 hectares. The building of the University Cancer Institute is designed to form an architectural link between science, medical care and nature. A 312-bed hospital, laboratories and a research centre complete the project.

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The construction of the University Cancer Institute Toulouse Oncopole gives a particular dimension to the site of the Oncopole: Next to the public research laboratories, the private laboratories and all the other services and spaces of the Oncopole, the Institute allows completing the cycle from medical research to the patients treatments. Thus, this Institute is a link between medical staff, patients, their families, and more generally the public. Its conception is inscribed in the spirit of the Oncopole and constitutes its heart.

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The Institute’s first architectural principle is that it is conceived as a site and not as a simple building: equal importance is given to the landscape and to buildings. Architecture and landscape are the conceptual foundations of this clinic and their harmony creates favourable conditions for cancer treatments, the well being of patients and medical staff.

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This posture influences the clinic’s conception itself, its forms and materials. It induces an optimal relation between patients and the medical staff. The various spaces create a favourable environment for treatments in their aim and their relation to natural light and landscapes. The curves, oriented towards the landscape, hosts hospitalisation. The orthogonal parts are dedicated to care. The large longitudinal volume is qualified as a ‘life andcommunication space’ and responds to the search for medical efficiency.