Work
Project
Vicente Ferrer Hospital
- Location: Rubi, Barcelona, Spain
- Typology: Hospitals
- Completion: 2011
- Surface built: 26.078 m2
Coauthors
Mario Corea
Lluis Moran
Pau Duran (Cdaa_buc)
Collaborators
Sebastian Guerrico
Eugenio Tioni
Consuelo Koch
Berta Masnou
Structure
Bis Arquitectes
Installations
Engynia
We always consider that projects emerge form the site. The “site” should not only be understood as a terrain with a topography and certain direction features, but also as the “site” with all its physical complexities: social, urban, functional and financial of a particular project. The new hospital for the cities of Rubi, Sant Cugat and Catellbisbal starts from understanding this complex reality reassessing all these guidelines.
The project of the new hospital is presented as a horizontal volume with light wells and it is adapted to the topography. Taking advantage of the slope of the site, the building unfolds in a staggered sequence as a way by which to reduce the visual impact of it upon its immediate surroundings. The building unfolds over the terrain and it adapts itself to the site determining factors such as its geometry, physical structure, communication areas, views and direction. An essential element of the project design is the site. The idea of this hospital design was to control its size and make it similar to the human dimension. A horizontal building is designed, where the public square penetrates inside the hospital making up a large public circulation area (rambla). The proposed hospital is a system that organizes subsystems of services. The general public, the physicians and the technicians are communicated through circulation areas which form a sequence that establishes restrictions to the entrances. This criterion enhances clear courses of action, avoids interferences and facilitates hygienic control. The proposed system will be capable of adapting to the changes of use, services and technologies, and it can be expanded in a future enlargement of services. The project is set and clearly-defined by three essential points: The complexity of the program, the requested built and enlargement area and the urban design.
There is a simple exterior and plainly facade, a white line that organizes and stabilizes the territory and emphasizes its topography. This white facade acts as a filter for solar radiation to the south and organizes and determines the views, producing an intentional view over the surroundings, with tiny perforations at human scale. The building overlooks, at the same time, its interior landscape and it faces the southeast and southwest (at the end of the public circulation area) with a wide view of the territory and of Collserola. The project, apart from large rectangular or small squared patios, has a big central patio of great dimensions that introduces the territory to the building, creating an interior green area, which defines and establishes the building nature.