CHU · Tours 1 & 2

CHU - Tours 1 & 2

Sart Tilman campus  - HOPITAL district
Avenue de l'Hôpital, 1
4000 Liège

* Planned from 1962 onwards, the Centre hospitalier universitaire (CHU) du Sart-Tilman is considered by many critics to be Charles Vandenhove's major work.
The historic facilities at the Bavière site in Outremeuse in the city center could no longer meet the University's needs, so it commissioned him to design an infrastructure capable of accommodating one thousand one hundred beds and all the services required for high-tech medicine, university research and teaching.
The architect drew up a master plan that exploited both the advantages of a pavilion hospital - separating patients by type of pathology - and those of a monoblock design, well suited to the imperatives of practical management.

* Based on a central truncated-pyramid structure, which provides most of the building's entrances, five independent towers are articulated around a square floor plan, reducing internal movement and allowing patient rooms and relaxation areas to be located on the periphery in daylight.
Already used in the construction of the Laboratoires de recherche et d'enseignement de Louvain-la-Neuse (1972), the building's construction principle is based on the use of prefabricated concrete; the 7.20 x 7.20 m modular grid allows the creation of partitionable platforms in a wide variety of easily modifiable combinations, a flexibility further enhanced by the location of a technical level between each floor, facilitating interventions without interrupting the site's activity.

* The large glass roof that lights up the central block is a real bravura piece, and was listed as a monument in 1994. For the promoters of the CHU du Sart-Tilman, it was a question ofhumanizing the hospital. Vandenhove translated this desire into a constant concern for quality, right down to the smallest detail. He also encouraged the integration of artworks by commissioning numerous artists to design compositions to be inscribed on the enamelled sheet metal panelling that protects the lower interior walls.

Niele Toroni (°1937), 1978-1985, silkscreen on enamelled steel panels

Swiss artist Niele Toroni occupies a prominent place in the glass reception area, claiming a degree zero in painting, with an alignment of red stains on the central escalators.

Throughout his work, he systematically applies No. 50 brushstrokes spaced 30 centimetres apart on a white surface.
His personal work is inseparable from that carried out for the B.M.P.T. group, named after its members: Daniel Buren (°1938), Olivier Mosset (°1944), Michel Parmentier (1938-2000) and Niele Toroni.
In 1966 and 1967, in a minimalist approach taken to the extreme, this group presented a number of demonstrations marking its refusal to communicate the slightest message or emotion.
Each artist is characterized by the repetition of the same motif.

The photo above shows the 5 CHU towers and their associated building numbers.

• B23: CHU - Tower 3: Pathology - Animal house
• B34: CHU - Tower 5: GIGA
• B35: CHU - Towers 1 & 2
• B35a: CHU - Amphithéâtres de Médecine
• B36: CHU - Tower 4: Pharmacy and Medical Dean's Office

* Source: Pierre Henrion, Guide architecture moderne et contemporaine 1985-2014 - Liège, 2014