Štěpánka Children's Centre

St. Stephen's Hospice in Litoměřice has been providing specialised palliative care for adult patients for many years and is one of the leading hospice care providers in the Czech Republic. Building on the ongoing development of paediatric palliative care, the hospice is now preparing a new Children's Centre for Palliative and Supportive Care. The new facility will expand the existing campus with a completely new type of service dedicated to children and young people living with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions, as well as to their families.

The subject of the architectural competition is the design of a new building for the Children's Centre on a site directly adjacent to the existing St. Stephen's Hospice. The new facility will accommodate inpatient children's hospice care, respite care, an outpatient palliative care clinic, psychotherapy counselling, physiotherapy, and staff facilities. The competition brief also includes the design of a functional connection between the new building and the existing hospice, together with the creation of high-quality outdoor spaces supporting patients, families, and staff.

This is not the design of a conventional healthcare facility. The ambition is to create an environment that feels as close to home as possible, offering children and their loved ones privacy, safety, comfort, and dignity during an exceptionally challenging period of life. The architectural design should respond sensitively to the specific operational requirements of palliative care while creating a welcoming, intuitive, and humane environment of high spatial quality, both indoors and outdoors.

The site is located within the unique historic setting of Dómský vrch (Cathedral Hill) in Litoměřice, requiring a sensitive response to its urban context, scale, and architectural character. The competition therefore seeks a design that successfully balances respect for the site's historic setting with the demands of a contemporary healthcare and social care facility, while making efficient use of the site's limited size.