International architecture firm Foster + Partners has begun construction on the Magdi Yacoub Global Heart Centre Cairo, a new 300-bed hospital that aims to provide free state-of-the-art treatment for local and international patients. 

The hospital was founded by a surgeon named Sir Magdi Yacoub who has outlined a vision for offering free vital health services for low and middle-income people across Africa. An announcement describing the project explains, "The design of the 300-bed hospital responds to the needs of patients, their families and the staff that care for them, and is set within a lush, verdant landscape and a calming lake that seeks to optimize the overall patient experience and decrease recovery times."

The project is arranged as as series of medical buildings surrounded by greenery, with the buildings themselves articulated with serial window bays facing a view that includes the Great Pyramids of Giza. The ground floor of the project includes diagnosis and treatment areas as well as an emergency area, outpatient clinic, and rehabilitation clinics. For the project, Foster + Partners is making use of prefabricated operating theaters located directly beside the hospital's Intensive Care Unit, an arrangement that will allow doctors, researchers, and caregivers to communicate and collaborate more easily. 

Meanwhile, an upper level terrace contains outdoor spaces for staff and patients, as well as a canteen, a children's nursery, and meeting spaces for doctors and other workers. 

In a statement, Norman Foster, Founder and Executive Chairman, Foster + Partners explains, “New Aswan Heart Centre offers state-of-the-art, free-of-charge medical services to the Egyptian people, particularly the underprivileged. Lush and verdant, this oasis of paths and parks promotes wellbeing. With its passive design strategy, it is an exemplar of sustainability, responding to the needs of patients and to its locale. We are delighted to be working with Sir Magdi Yacoub and his foundation for such a noble cause.”

Sir Magdi Yacoub added that “Cardiovascular disease is currently the most important cause of disability and death with 80 per cent of the burden affecting low- and middle-income countries. This demands urgent action with emphasis on quality and excellence at every level."

A timeline for completion of the project has not been released.