This article is a descriptive analysis of the organizational steps undertaken to transform eight OR (operating rooms) of the University Hospital Lausanne CHUV into a dedicated ICU (intensive care unit) during the COVID-19 pandemic. An efficient response of our institution was mandatory to timely increase the number of ICU beds. The transformation of an entire floor of a functioning operating ward was deemed the most appropriate solution to provide rapidly a significant number of beds. The newly created ICU was the first additional ICU to open and admitted its first patient 48 hours after the beginning of the transformation.