Work on Ukraine’s largest hospital – a six-storey cross-laminated timber extension in Lviv – is progressing, with Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban revealing that the project is now in schematic design.
First reported by Wood Central in September 2023, Ban revealed that the decision to choose timber – over steel and concrete – “will heal inpatients with its warmth”, allowing for an accelerated construction timeframe and thus reducing re-work on site: “Timber construction generates less noise, dust, and vibration than steel or reinforced concrete buildings, so it is also suitable for construction on hospital campuses.”
According to Ban, the hospital eschews the need for metal joints – with Swiss engineering studio Hermann Blumer helping to design a building free of joints:
“Using metal joints is the easiest method, and I sometimes use them depending on the circumstance…in many cases, I try to avoid them because I enjoy coming up with different ways to join timber components without depending on metal plates.”
Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban on designing timber buildings without metal joints.
Wood Central understands that the new building will use CLT as its base material, with renders showing a rectangular block with a gridded face over a timber entrance canopy. Internally, the building will be around a central atrium containing a reception area and exposed timber columns.
Recognised for his work in humanitarian projects, Ban is behind the Paper Log Cabin (used in disaster zones) and Styrofoam Housing System (SHS), a five-minute shelter used by Ukrainians displaced by the war. So far, more than 200,000 displaced Ukrainians have settled in the western city of Lviv, once home to 725,000 –  with the total number of Ukrainians estimated to have fled Ukraine to other European countries now forecast to exceed 4.8 million people.
The update comes after Wood Central revealed that global architects are looking to rebuild Kharkiv’s war-torn Freedom Square. The design, which combines heritage elements, cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glazing, could see officials rebuild one of the world’s largest public squares, 30km from the Russian border.
Designed by Sydney-based architect Jansen Che, ‘Memory’ was among three winners of the Norman Foster Foundation Kharkiv Freedom Square Revival Competition – calls for the removal of all non-load-bearing walls in the Derzhprom—a 1920s-era UNESCO World Heritage Site—”to create open and flexible interior spaces…mirroring (Ukraine’s) shift in the political process toward democracy.” At the same time, Che wanted to use CLT – which reduces the building’s embodied carbon – and high-performing glazing to open up the eastern side of the Regional Administration Building, “symbolising the government’s commitment to openness and modernity.”
