Designed with everyone: How Khammouane Hospital's Masterplan is redefining healthcare planning in Laos
Photos from the site visit, including the presentation and meetings with the departments.
Last month, Article 25 Architect Associate Branca Pegado and Senior Healthcare Architect Daryl Murphy travelled to Laos for a landmark moment in the Khammouane Provincial Hospital: presenting the Masterplan and Acute Care Building proposals to the full range of stakeholders shaping the project's future.
The journey took the team across the Third Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge from Thailand to Thakhek - the town on the banks of the Mekong River where Khammouane Provincial Hospital has served its community for over a century. From there, and following an 8-hour drive with the survey team, further days were spent in Vientiane with the project engineering partners Lao Consulting Group (LCG) and the LuxDev team, in what proved to be a full and productive visit.
A formal moment, a positive result
The presentation brought together an impressive breadth of people: representatives from the Provincial Governance, the Ministry of Health, LuxDev, hospital management and a wide range of stakeholders from across the province. It was a formal occasion - and in a project of this scale, with multiple layers of government and healthcare involved, that formality matters.
Navigating the range of responses in the room required care, but the overall mood was genuinely encouraging and the direct feedback received reflected the depth of consultation the team has invested in from the outset.
Built with people, not just for them
What resonated most was the collaborative approach at the heart of the process. Rather than arriving with a fixed plan, the team brought a framework shaped by the people who use and run the hospital every day - clinical departments, hospital staff and the wider project team. As one stakeholder observed, the Masterplan is something they are very happy with because it involves everyone and outlines clearly how development can happen.
This approach has had an impact beyond the project itself. Silvia Morgoci, Senior Sectoral Adviser - Health and Nutrition Programme at LuxDev, reflects:
“Article 25’s approach on this project has demonstrated impressive efficiency. The way they involved the hospital from the very beginning - bringing clinical staff into the process early and meaningfully - clearly demonstrated what is achievable. It sets a strong example to replicate in future projects.”
What comes next
With the presentation complete, the next step is to issue the formal Masterplan report, setting out the framework for the hospital's phased development, and to proceed with the design of the Acute Care Building, which will create a new home for the Outpatients Department, Emergency Department, Intensive Care Unit and Operating Theatres as well as providing the hospital with a centralised main entrance and reception area. Each stage will move forward with the involvement and approval of the people it affects - ensuring that Khammouane Provincial Hospital's next chapter is one the province can genuinely call its own.
More information on this project coming soon.
The Health and Nutrition Programme (LAO/035) is financed by the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and jointly implemented by the Ministry of Health of Lao PDR and LuxDev, the Luxembourg Development Cooperation Agency.
