Architect and Builder Magazine South Africa July/August 2014 | Page 12

NELSON MANDELA CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL, BRAAMFONTEIN
Article written by Rod McAllister,
Partner at Sheppard Robson Architects,
London and Lead Architect of the Nelson
Mandela Children’s Hospital.
The Nelson Mandela Children’s
Hospital - for which construction will begin
in August this year - has been designed
with such care and attention to detail, it
could have been imagined by one of the
children who will one day get well within
its walls. The result is a first-of-its-kind
hospital for children in South Africa.
From the start of the project, Nelson
Mandela always emphasised the need
for the building to feel like his home,
and not like a hospital. As architects,
collaborating between South Africa and
the UK, our intention from the outset was
to create a design that embodies the way
that children react to Madiba. With this in
mind, we visualised a space filled with art,
colour and surprises.
In every aspect of the design, the
building puts the children and their
families first. We have also taken special
care to consult paediatric nurses, doctors

and therapists who have comprehensive
experience and understanding in what the
children would need to have a comfortable,
positive stay at the hospital.
We plan to decorate the walls with
local South African artworks, as well as
pictures by the children themselves. For
example, at the beginning of the project
we received a tile imprinted with the
outline of Nelson Mandela’s hand, so we
plan to give each child a colourful ceramic
tile, which they can imprint with their own
hand and display on one of the hospital
walls next to Madiba’s original. This will
commemorate their time there long after
they have healed.
We are mindful that not all children
at the hospital will be very young, so we
have ensured the decoration does not
resemble a nursery. We are investig ][