Winner: Architecture project of the year and leisure and wellness project of the year 2025. Herzog & de Meuron has designed the University Children's Hospital, for the well-being of patients, their families and staff alike in Zurich, Switzerland.

The new University Children's Hospital Zurich is the largest facility for children in Switzerland.

The hospital consists of a three-story concrete frame with wooden infills and comprises two buildings: the hospital building and the research and teaching facility.

The interior functions like a town: the medical specialties are neighbourhoods with squares and streets connecting them.

On each of the three floors, a central main street runs past various green courtyards that provide intuitive orientation and bring daylight into the building.

The patients' rooms on the roof are like individual cottages, while the landscaping includes the planting of over 250 trees.

Judge comments: "This is a project that should be celebrated and celebrated widely. It is an exemplary building, in a sector where exemplary buildings are rare but more needed than almost any other. It is designed and executed extremely well and at an impressive scale. This should be the standard we aim for in health buildings. This is what quality architecture should strive for."

Studio: Herzog & de Meuron
Project: University Children's Hospital Zurich
Credits: Gruner, ZPF Ingenieure and August and Margrith Künzel