Dezeen Magazine

Zaha Hadid designs apartment for Ronald McDonald charity house

Zaha Hadid Architects is one of 11 international firms designing a studio apartment at a new McDonald's charity house in Hamburg to accommodate the relatives of children receiving hospital treatment nearby (+ slideshow).

Zaha Hadid designs apartment for Ronald McDonald charity house
Apartment 5 by Zaha Hadid

Set to open this summer, the latest in a series of Ronald McDonald Houses will be located near the Altona Children’s Hospital and will offer accommodation to family members who have travelled far from home to accompany seriously ill children.

Zaha Hadid designs apartment for Ronald McDonald charity house
Apartment 5 by Zaha Hadid

Zaha Hadid's design for Apartment 5 features built-in furniture, wooden fittings and recessed lighting, intended to create a "marine look" and make the space feel larger than it really is.

Zaha Hadid designs apartment for Ronald McDonald charity house
Apartment 5 by Zaha Hadid

Described by the firm as "two half shells", the room will have a wooden base created by parquet flooring and walls that curve up from the ground, and a clean white upper section.

Zaha Hadid designs apartment for Ronald McDonald charity house
Apartment 5 by Zaha Hadid

"The wooden shell with its continuous curvatures - from the parquet floor to the inbuilt furniture pieces such as the floating bed and the elevated secretary - lends warmth and a tactile quality to all surfaces that can be reached, touched and played in," said the architects.

Zaha Hadid designs apartment for Ronald McDonald charity house
Apartment 5 by Zaha Hadid

"The inbuilt furniture and the position of the bed within the space leave a large floor space for the family to sit and communicate, and for the kids and siblings to play on," they added.

Apartment 7 by Manuelle Gautrand for Ronald McDonald charity house
Apartment 7 by Manuelle Gautrand

Other studios designing apartments include Spanish office Estudio.Entresitio, who proposes a "neutral and cozy" room with furniture that folds away, and French architect Manuelle Gautrand, who has designed a nest-like space made up of wooden platforms.

Apartment 6 by Estudio.Entresitio for Ronald McDonald charity house
Apartment 6 by Estudio.Entresitio

The list is completed by Appia Contract of Germany, Dutch studio Barcode Architects, German architects Brandherm + Krumrey, EMBAIXADA of Portugal, Austrian firm Hollein & Partner, Belgian studio Low Architecten, Raiserlopes of Germany and Swiss architect Sara Spiro.

Apartment 3 by Appia Contract for Ronald McDonald charity house
Apartment 3 by Appia Contract

German office Graft is also involved and will create communal areas where residents can prepare food, dine and sit together in front of the fire.

Oasis by Graft for Ronald McDonald charity house
Oasis by Graft