At the Red Cross Hospital in Beverwijk, a new intervention centre softly reshapes the hospital’s front edge – combining architectural precision, material innovation, and the building’s roots.
Built at the front of the existing hospital complex, a new three-storey addition houses the so-called ‘hot floors’: emergency care and diagnostics on the ground floor, radiology on the first floor, and operating rooms on the second floor. Designed by architect Sabine Berndsen of Bureau Berndsen in Arnhem, the new building strengthens the site’s identity while giving it a touch of modernity. Sabine works in various collaborative partnerships and is also active as a freelance architect at Architecten aan de Maas in Rotterdam.
A transparent glass façade and a wooden canopy frame the entrance, while the façade is clad in white glazed brick slips in a variety of shapes and sizes that echo the bright appearance of the existing building. The relief formed by projecting brick elements creates a layered façade expression. “White glazed hand-formed bricks were chosen in keeping with the original façade,” Berndsen explains. “To give the closed façades greater articulation, we introduced a pattern of protruding extruded bricks.”
A relief pattern was applied to the closed ground-floor façade near the entrance and to the second floor, where operating rooms required minimal openings. The façade’s textured surface interacts with changing daylight conditions, creating varying shadow patterns, while the high-gloss glaze responds to different weather conditions. Although glazed hand-formed bricks in Waal format served as the original design reference, the contractor’s construction system required brick slips on the façade. This led to the development of the customized brick slip Crystal Wit SP from wienerberger.
To create the façade relief, different variants of brick slips were used: some slips were produced as cut-offs from the hand-formed brick in Waal format, while others were manufactured directly as full-length strips. For the plinths and planters, the same white glazed brick was used in full-brick format rather than as slips. The custom glazing supported the architectural concept with a consistent material appearance, while the use of brick elements from a single manufacturer provided continuity across the various applications.
Particular attention was paid to the vertical expansion joints, which were designed to blend into the overall façade composition. They feature an interlocking detail and a sanded sealant joint, giving them an appearance similar to the surrounding mortar joints. The gloss and texture of the brick, combined with the relief pattern, respond to changing light conditions and create subtle variations across the façade. Throughout the day, the projecting brick elements cast different shadow patterns, adding further depth to the building envelope.
The bright-white elements were chosen not only for their aesthetic character, but also to align with the visual language of the existing building, which was constructed more than 50 years ago and is scheduled for renovation in the coming years. To preserve the existing façade and minimise intervention in the original building fabric, refurbishment measures, including additional insulation, will be carried out from within. The new intervention centre at the Red Cross Hospital in Beverwijk establishes a dialogue between existing and new architecture through its material palette and carefully detailed façade design.
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