Healthcare center in Bilbao
Project idea
The main idea behind designing this project was to define a new definition of the relationship between architecture and health, a new prototype of a health center. This project tries to break some conventional conditions to turn the building into a place that transmits serenity, and comfort while founding and enhancing the virtues of its context.
The project is developed in one of the sites with the greatest future goals for Bilbao citizens, close to Zorrozaurre island; located in a strategic point with a strong urban identity and somehow manages to hide from the typical industrial environment of its surroundings.
Taking into account the exponential growth of the residential area of the San Ignacio neighborhood, Bilbao, it is essential to build a new endowment building for a Health Center, in the Deusto district, close to all these residential buildings, in order to guarantee care quality of both health and family, to ensure the welfare of the population.
Without forgetting the important functional factor of a health center, the building offers an experience that goes beyond: it manages to revitalize the entire surrounding public with simple and effective design solutions.
Project description
_ How could architecture get rid of bad human feelings and efficiently build on our well-being and recovery time?
_What is the effect of context in the design process?
_How can we improve the relationship between architecture and human health?
_What characteristics should be applied to architecture so that the users feel more comfortable and calm?
These questions were the initiative factors forming the ideology of this proposal.
On the one hand, clean and simple geometries are proposed taking reference to the plot's basic alignments. In this way, it is possible to avoid excessive breaks in the geometry and show itself as a clear building with paths that are recognizable at first sight for new patients. In turn, the simplification of the geometry favors a correct and easier cleaning of the center, in a building where cleaning plays such an important role in the health of the patient.
The functional organization is clear and user-friendly. Firstly, the ground floor includes the more immediate uses, such as the emergency room, pediatric consultations, or more public and administrative uses. Secondly, the first floor collects inquiries that offer more specific services and are sectorized throughout the floor. In addition, it was decided to bury one of the floors intended exclusively for medical staff, thus achieving total privatization of the workers of the center in relation to the more public area.
Lighting in this building, such as a health center must serve two fundamental objectives: guarantee the optimal conditions to carry out the corresponding tasks, and contribute to an atmosphere in which the patient feels comfortable. All this happens guaranteeing the maximum possible energy efficiency.
Regarding ventilation, all types of rooms in the project, especially the ones of the healthcare area, have the possibility of large openings to the outside (either to the street or to the interior patio), guaranteeing optimal ventilation. In this way, air quality and temperature, and humidity conditions are kept within acceptable levels, while ensuring that the air conditioning systems themselves are not a source of contamination and infections.
The pool of water raised outside the center is not only an instrument that allows the space to be fictitiously duplicated by its reflection properties, but also further: it is lengthened in order to create a new urban point of public attraction. At the same time, the water transmits serenity to the patient and an atmosphere of comfort.
Technical information
The project has the preservation of the pre-existing perimeter
wall. The wall is remodeled according to the basic principles of the
building, preserving all the materiality of the stone wall on the access floor and emptying it on the first floor, preserving only its concrete structure. In this way, the heavy character is preserved in the lower part built in reinforced concrete, contrasting with the upper floor, which is lighter, based on prefabricated slats and glazed elements that allow indirect natural lighting to pass through in all the consultations.
The contrast of materiality sought between the access floor and the first floor is also reflected in the structure, which follows the modulation marked by the medical consultations. Therefore, the ground floor is made up of reinforced concrete beams and load-bearing walls, giving the building’s base the same heavy character as the pre-existing stone wall. However, the first floor aims to be as light as possible, resulting in lower weight materials and a metallic structure.
In addition, at the main entrance, there is a large cantilever, which has the main supports on the building itself. Seeing that these supports are not enough to support this much load, two intermediate supports are proposed: a large concrete wall and the "big sphere", which, apart from providing a sculptural touch, hides a structural reinforcement function as it houses an enormous support inside.
Finally, according to the final facade solution for the consultations floor (1st floor), is a ventilated facade system that has the following benefits:
Solar Protection: This system allows the façade to breathe so it helps to avoid the overheating of the interiors by direct radiation during the summer, helping to reduce the thermal energy that enters the interior of the healthcare center.
Permeability: By moving, the air allows the 'breathing' of the facade through the diffusion of water vapor from the inside out.
Water Protection: The moving air prevents the infiltration of rainwater into the structure of the building.
Thermal Insulation: The thermal bridges between the outer structure and the load-bearing structure are eliminated, saving energy by reducing temperature fluctuations in the interior.
Documentation
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