Foster + Partners begins construction on new cardiac hospital complex in Egypt

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 ar...