Austin-Smith:Lord was appointed by NHS Ayrshire & Arran to provide a fitting replacement to the existing Davidson Cottage Hospital. Our brief was to create a landmark building to provide healthcare service for Girvan and its local catchment area. The £15.2 million project was developed from the outset with the full involvement of the Client Steering Group and the Local Community. The plan for the hospital was conceived as a series of identifiable buildings unified into a cohesive whole by a curved circulation street. The curve was derived from the meandering Water of Girvan with individual buildings extending like fingers towards the river. This concept allowed the building to present a legible formal public face, and appropriate civic scale, to the main public entrance with an informal response to the river edge whilst maximising opportunities for daylighting and connection to landscape.