SIMU – The Simulation Centre of the Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University

The Simulation Centre of the Faculty of Medicine at Masaryk University is the most advanced facility of its kind in Central Europe.

SIMU is equipped much like a real hospital. On the roof you will find a heliport; one of the floors contains operating theatres, intensive care units, medical technology and simulators. But this is not what SIMU is truly about. Above all, SIMU offers the opportunity to try and experience medical procedures first-hand – from the simplest to the most complex. Here, you can train everything without putting a patient’s life at risk. SIMU is a place where making a mistake is not a failure – the real failure is not learning from it.

The building was designed by the architectural team of the Brno-based studio AiD team a.s. Its boomerang-like shape arises directly from the local urban context. The structure forms a dignified architectural conclusion to the academic part of the University Campus and creates an eastern gateway to the area. The southern volume forms a compact block with an inner atrium, from which a bold bridge spans Kamenice Street, supported by a base on the northern edge of the site. Although the floor plan is angular, the overall mass is compact and forms a clean composition in the eastern part of the campus.

A striking visual feature is the gold-coloured perforated metal cladding, sculpturally wrapping the bridge above Kamenice Street and continuing down the supporting column to the car park by Studentská Street. The façades are designed in a rationalist style, combining glazed sections with solid areas finished with glass-concrete cladding. Behind these are specialised rooms that require complete protection from daylight. The interiors of the five-storey building combine a simulated hospital environment with educational spaces, such as seminar rooms and lecture halls. The building received the Czech Chamber of Architects Award in 2022.

SIMU offers an entirely new approach to teaching General Medicine and Dentistry. It enhances study programmes with the unique benefit of mastering techniques and procedures on simulators. The five-storey training hospital, equipped with medical and simulation technology, is supported by one of the widest and best-trained teams in its field.