Dreiland-Klinikum Lörrach

Almost entirely gas-free: the new Dreiland-Klinikum in Lörrach uses groundwater heat pumps for heating and cooling. The result is a sustainable healthcare campus that conserves resources and significantly reduces CO2 emissions.

A green health campus is taking shape

Following a successful design competition, the master planning team led by a|sh architekten is currently designing the Dreiland-Klinikum Lörrach healthcare complex. Covering a gross floor area of just over 90,000 m², a modern healthcare campus is being built that will bring together four previously separate hospital sites in a single central location. By mid-2027, 677 beds, 13 operating theatres, six delivery rooms and day-care facilities will be completed. The hospital will be complemented by a mental health centre, a medical centre, a building for tertiary uses, a German Red Cross ambulance station and a multi-storey car park. Even from a distance, the layout of the buildings on the ‘green healthcare campus’ resembles a cloverleaf.

Innovative energy design

MorgenGrün was responsible for the energy and technical design. Key tasks included the energy concept, thermal simulation, thermal comfort simulation and a redundancy concept. The aim was to develop an efficient, sustainable energy concept that significantly reduces CO₂ emissions and largely eliminates the need for fossil fuels.

Gas-free and future-proof: heat pumps in action

The system relies on groundwater to provide heating and cooling. Heat exchangers and comprehensive concrete core activation ensure that heating and cooling energy is utilised to the full. In summer, the ground provides ‘free cooling’, meaning that the heat pumps usually do not need to be activated – an almost emission-free method of cooling the building. The system is supplemented by a photovoltaic installation with a capacity of around 550 kWp, which further reduces the total energy requirement.

Image

Focus on sustainability and operational safety

This integrated, resource-efficient design enables CO₂ emissions to be reduced by up to a third compared with standard buildings; when taking the electricity mix into account, the reduction is as high as 60%. Early thermal simulation and analysis of user comfort have also ensured that indoor temperatures are maintained efficiently and comfortably without unnecessary energy consumption.

The energy crisis as an opportunity: gas-independent heating and cooling

A key feature of the project was the flexibility of the energy concept: in response to the gas supply crisis, the originally planned fossil-fuel-based heating system – comprising a combined heat and power plant and a peak-load boiler – was replaced in the design by a heat pump system that is entirely independent of gas. Six large heat pumps utilise groundwater to provide both heating and cooling. This enables the hospital to operate independently of fossil fuels and makes it future-proof against fluctuating energy prices. 

Cooperation for greater climate action

Particular challenges lay in integrating new technologies into a complex hospital campus that simultaneously meets the highest standards of redundancy, reliability and thermal comfort. Our team met these requirements through precise simulations and a well-thought-out redundancy concept. 
Thanks to close coordination between the general contractor team, the client, the building services engineers from ZWP and the funding bodies, the ambitious sustainability targets were successfully achieved.

A sustainable healthcare building 

With this innovative, energy-efficient design, the Dreiland-Klinikum Lörrach is making a significant contribution to sustainable hospital planning: resource conservation, climate protection and operational safety go hand in hand.  
Our team is proud to be part of this forward-looking project through its engineering expertise and to have laid the foundations for an efficient, modern healthcare facility.

Images: ©  alsh sander.hofrichter architekten GmbH | MorgenGrün