A logistical powerhouse behind the scenes

At a modern hospital, operations must run smoothly—if not seamlessly. An efficient service infrastructure is essential. Inside the new service building in Malmö, four hundred staff members ensure that goods and services reach every corner of the hospital. According to lead architect Magnus Nilsson, it’s something of a “logistical marvel”, supplying hospital departments with everything from medications and lab results to freshly prepared meals. The building also manages laundry, waste, and returns, all flowing through an extended underground culvert system.

“This building is here to support healthcare,” explains Helena Beckman, healthcare specialist at Tengbom. “It’s designed to make staff’s work easier—so they can focus on delivering safer, more efficient and more sustainable care. Our hope is that this building contributes to better care for patients and that staff feel proud of their working environment.”

Deliveries are handled by compact autonomous robots pulling single trolleys or even small trains to and from the hospital units.

A glass house powered by robots

Dark corridors and hidden back-of-house zones? Not here. Deliveries are instead transported via small robots that travel by lift directly to the wards.

“The region’s ambition is clear,” says Helena. “Doctors and nurses should be able to devote as much time as possible to their patients.”

Here, the service process doesn’t hide behind closed doors. Quite the opposite. Instead, through stacked glass volumes, the building proudly allows a degree of visibility into its inner workings. According to architect Patrik Ekenhill, that might come as a surprise.

“When you hear the term ‘service building’, glass isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. But we see it as a sustainable material—and one that lets us put the operations on display.”

“You’ll see the trolleys gliding to and from the culvert system,” adds Magnus. “Even the art installations reinforce the experience from the outside.”

A great deal of work has gone into making the building and its surroundings inviting—not only for staff and patients but also for the public.

A new civic landmark

One of the project’s key challenges was integrating the service building with the city. Located at the edge of the hospital campus, the site faces residential buildings just across the street. Socially, it’s vital that the hospital feels open and accessible to the public. Together with an older building and the new mortuary, a public square has been created in front of the building.

“I can picture it becoming a kind of attraction—where people pause to watch the little robots on the move,” says Helena.

Paths from the surrounding city lead towards the square and further into the hospital campus. This area has been designed as a calm, semi-wild environment, where visitors walk on boardwalk-style paths between rain gardens and planted zones. The square forms part of a wider area once home to the early 20th-century epidemic hospital. Here, old and new architecture come together. The existing parkland is interwoven with newly designed outdoor spaces, which offer hospital staff moments of rest and relaxation.

A complete approach to a complex system

Designing outdoor environments in a hospital context is no small feat. The site is governed by a detailed programme and a network of systems, logistics and technologies. As landscape architects, our task was to make the whole system work. At the same time, we needed to ensure that the space remains welcoming and safe for visitors and passers-by.

The service building itself is a large and complex undertaking—one that demanded close collaboration between architects from multiple disciplines: building, landscape, interior and urban planning. Both Magnus and Helena agree: this kind of teamwork just feels right.

Awards and recognition

In 2023, the Malmö Hospital Service Building was nominated for the Swedish Steel Construction Prize (Stålbyggnadspriset).