Medical Technology Hub and Community Space
The project involves the adaptive reuse of two former hospital buildings into a start-up incubator dedicated to medical innovation, located within the grounds of Strasbourg’s Civil Hospital. The first, the “ORL Pavilion,” was built in 1927 by architects Karl and Paul Bonatz; the second, the “Blum Pavilion,” was completed in 1921 by Patrice Bonnet, an architect and laureate of the Grand Prix de Rome.
The ORL Pavilion forms part of a remarkably coherent urban and heritage ensemble—the new Strasbourg Civil Hospital—designed in the early 20th century by the Bonatz brothers, who also designed Stuttgart’s main railway station and the Kunstmuseum Basel.
It follows a pavilion-based architectural model whose strength lies in the subtle and carefully orchestrated composition of solids and voids. Each element -whether building or landscaped space - defines its own internal logic while maintaining a dialogue with its neighbors. The visual coherence, the spacing between volumes, and the prominence of gardens all contribute to a therapeutic design ethos.
However, the building was never completed as originally intended, as the Bonatz brothers left Strasbourg before construction was finished. This rehabilitation project presented an opportunity to restore the intended balance between built form and open space—removing incongruous additions from recent decades and extending the pavilion by replacing both of its wing roofs. Historical research confirmed that the existing roofs did not match the architects’ original plans.
Every effort was made to respect and enhance the building—preserving, and in some cases reconstructing, its structural framework, the alignment of its façades, and the refined details such as wall thicknesses and softly rounded corners that diffuse natural light into the interior. This strongly articulated and spatially expressive architecture has proven remarkably well-suited to accommodating the technical and functional flexibility required by a contemporary research office
program (including open-plan areas, private and shared offices), while also offering distinctive, inspiring spaces that foster creativity and social interaction.
The Blum Pavilion, originally an annex of the hospital complex, once housed a lecture hall for medical education. Its transformation—along with the redesign of its surroundings—now places it at the heart of the new medical innovation hub. It features flexible workspaces and functions as a “third place,” combining dining, events, and co-working areas.
A deliberately restrained intervention in terms of materials and palette allows the building’s original character to emerge—particularly its neo-regionalist expression and its concrete structure, conceived in the manner of a timber frame. Here, the extension was achieved by converting the basement into a garden-level floor, more fully anchoring the building into the heart of the medical technology cluster.
