HEALING CENTER

Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo, Tucumán

Project idea

With the advancement of technology worldwide, many health centers have increased their ability to heal various diseases or pathologies that have arisen throughout history. The means available today at the level of machinery and hospital infrastructure represent a facility for human beings. However, many times rather immeasurable aspects are left aside, related to emotions, to the mind, which really make a difference when a patient lives in a hospital.

If we go back some time, we will find that it was discovered that only by regularly cleaning the floors of a hospital, favoring the ventilation of the rooms and respecting certain hygiene guidelines, could it be possible to save great human losses. That little discovery, which for our time is indisputable when it comes to thinking about a health establishment, sets precedents. These precedents become clear "evidences" that mean that the healing quality of a place can be improved even. In addition, over time those same ones will be studied and specialized, and suddenly we will know how the range of certain colors influences people mentally, for example.

This is when the field of research opens up a bit more. We are no longer talking about “material” infrastructure, instrumentation or physical elements that improve the gait of a patient. Rather, we are talking about the influence of architecture and design, when creating Optimal Healing Environments. Of healing, because, healing and cure have two very different meanings, and they can occur at the same time, or not necessarily.

It is thus, then, that we set out to carry out this research, in order to take a somewhat "reverse" path, that is, understanding how the passage of a patient in a hospital center is happening on an emotional level, to be able to give I solve those emotions, accompanying, through the evidences that were given over time, how to improve that stage, and be able to achieve healing in the first measure.

Project description

The project of the center for healing is inserted in a context of abundant nature and close contact with the mountains.

It has a simple prismatic volume that is inserted on a very irregular topography, thus generating a roof for a high quality public space.

Technical information

The hospital building is developed as a large bridge that covers a free span of about 300 meters.

It is made of a metal structure with sides that function as a vierendel beam. The other layers of the envelope correspond to the environmental filters ensuring an optimal interior space.