Hospital for the Elderly of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores
Healthcare architectural project for the care of the elderly that innovates in the mode of social interaction of its users, while using subtle strategies to promote the active mobility of the patients.
Its geometry escapes rigidity, adapting to the terrain in order to enhance the transit of people.
Spaces assume the functions of home, street and parks to accommodate the life of users who spend more time in their facilities; while enhancing the views and environmental quality.
Local
Spain
Tenerife, San Cristóbal de La Laguna (municipality of Tenerife)
Canary Islands
Mainly urban
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
Yes
2005-02-04
As an individual in partnership with other persons
First name: Cristina Last name: González Vázquez de Parga Gender: Female Nationality: Spain Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Glorieta Pedro de Mendoza 6, 4F Town: Santa Cruz de Tenerife Postal code: 38005 Country: Spain Direct Tel:+34 922 21 32 81 E-mail:administracion@vdparquitectos.com Website:https://vdparquitectos.com/
First name: Federico Last name: García Barba Gender: Male Nationality: Spain Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Calle Domingo Pérez Minik 89 Town: Santa Cruz de Tenerife Postal code: 38006 Country: Spain Direct Tel:+34 922 98 17 50 E-mail:federicogarcia@cppa.es Website:http://www.garciabarba.com/
The complex is organized in five volumes that hold three long-term care units with 99 beds each, a day-care centre with 20 places and all the support areas needed. The buildings shape winds to accommodate the conditions of the site: the highway to the East and a small hill to the West; thus defining a series of landscaped courtyards which are intended to mitigate and control the strong presence of the North wind.
The formal arrangement of the hospital voluntarily avoids orthogonal geometry, considering it to adapt poorly to the plot topography and to generate very static and rigid spaces. The reduced mobility of potential users together with their sensorial and mental disabilities and the fact that their lives will unfold completely within the Centre, recommended a building type capable of performing the duties of home, neighbourhood and park all together. In consequence, the complex, more than being a building is the sum of several buildings, linked together by means of a glazed curvilinear street overlooking the landscaped courtyards to the north and the gardens to the south. Curvilinear geometry is used to achieve a friendly and comfortable environment, avoiding corners to facilitate movement of people with limited mobility.
Healthcare
Mobility
Accessibility
Inclusion
Environmental comfort
In terms of sustainability, the project focuses on the creation of inclusive and accessible infrastructures, whose implementation minimizes the landscape impact by distributing their spaces in modules of lower height, enabling environmental quality to be improved by introducing green spaces.
It was a conscious decision to generate two courtyards instead of a single one, considering that the solution of two courtyards provides more domestic and friendly scale spaces, while it turns out to be a solution that works better against the winds.
The project has consciously fled an orthogonal geometry, considering that it would adapt poorly to the topography and that it would generate very static and rigid spaces. Since a long-term residence is proposed, it has been ensured that the building is more than a single building the sum of several, so that it is not excessively monotonous to its residents. Curved shapes have been sought in the passing areas to achieve a friendlier environment, to achieve continuous walls and avoid corners and thus facilitate the movement of people with little mobility. A user-friendly architecture has been intentionally sought.
On the other hand, vegetation has been considered a fundamental element in the development of the solution, and has been introduced into the building through the use of courtyards.
Accessibility is considered as an inalienable right, and this is a fundamental basis for it from its conception. It can be seen in its layout how the inclusion of people, regardless of their circumstances, is reflected in the plan of the building, adapting to the topography without creating abrupt jumps of slope, and facilitating a transit through its interior.
Throughout the drafting of the project was maintained a regulation of it by representatives of the Island Council of Tenerife, while it has received assistance from medical professionals and technicians, modifying the project according to the needs and functional characteristics of the facilities, until reaching the final proposal, agreed by all parties.
The project has been promoted by the Insular Social and Health Care Institute of the Tenerife Island Council at the regional level, in conjunction with the Town Hall of San Cristobal de La Laguna, municipality of the same island, at the local level.
The basic needs programme was initially defined by a Functional Plan drawn up by the Island Council, submitted to the team after the project contest was awarded.
The plot of the project was located in the municipality of La Laguna, so the compliance with urban regulations is coordinated with the municipality.
As an architecture project, different technical disciplines have participated in the design and implementation process of this project.
Architectural design, Structural engineering, construction technicians and healthcare professionals have been part of the project. In the case of healthcare professionals, their advice has been essential in defining the needs and functional characteristics of the new facilities, and to reach a definitive proposal.
The project has had indisputable success in satisfying the needs of the user, while at the same time innovating in the model of social interaction of its users.
After its implementation, different awards have been received in the field of accessibility and architecture.
• 2nd Prize at the Awards for the Promotion of Accessibility of the Canary Islands, 2005.
• Mention Award at Manuel de Oraá y Arocha Architectural Awards, 2004-2005.
The building’s distribution and its spaces show awareness towards the user of the hospital that escapes the typical disposition of healthcare facilities.
People live between their homes, outdoor spaces, and socializing areas, and by adapting the design of hospital spaces to take this role during the patient’s stay, allows a better recovery and makes their day to day more enjoyable.
The spaces take the role of the house, the street and the park, treating each one of them by different grades of privacy. It is an innovation in the way social interaction between patients takes place, varying in different degrees of privacy, depending on the place.
The building introduces technical aids that subtly promote mobility and enjoyment of its facilities, especially for people with disabilities. For example, the curved corridor generates a variation of the exterior perspective throughout its route, which together with a transparent floor that allows to see the terrain, encourages the user to continue their walk.
Therefore, the building is not only accessible in normative terms, but also welcomes people so that they are able to enjoy the spent time needed.
We work so that, buildings and public spaces are easily accessible, from the moment it´s being designed to the very end of its construction, understanding that accessibility must be irrevocably linked to the human-made constructed spaces, and that our environment must be, regardless of our disabilities, an environment for everyone, facilitating integration and acceptance.
To the extent that our environment allows the public use and enjoyment, people with disabilities will be able to make use of the amenities and spaces that they cannot access today. Their independency will be greater, increasing their vital opportunities. Once having overcome architectural barriers that impede mobility, sharing the city with disabled citizens will become more common and natural. Furthermore, learning how to coexist cooperatively with the subject of disability will be the best and most natural approach to de-stigmatize those disabled.
We understand that accessibility is an advantage for everyone, that everyone at some point in their lives is susceptible to some kind of disability and that, accessibility is the equivalence to comfort in the ambiance of mobility.
We also work to make accessibility unperceived, that all help is invisible or imperceptibly added, but forms and integrates naturally in the design of the building and/or the environment. In our projects we make accessibility criteria design criteria, so that ramps, rails, special pavements, colour contrasts, soft surfaces, etc… form part of the building from its initial design.
The main transferable aspect is its concept of the distribution of spaces such as the house, the street and the park, treating each of them with a different degree of privacy.
Healthcare architecture is one of the fields in which the needs and particularities of users must specially be taken into account. Hospitals are facilities where a patient can spend long periods of admission, especially elderly people.
The project serves as a reference and reminder that spaces are for people, and therefore, their shape and spaces must be adapted to them, both for the functional needs of the facilities, and for the spatial quality and comfort of users through their entire hospitalization.
The project addresses the global sustainable development goals of reducing inequalities as well as building sustainable communities. Its implementation makes people share spaces, regardless of their circumstances and avoiding their discrimination, and as this is part of their conception as a project, without noticing the architectural decisions, allows the presence of people with disabilities to be normalized in all spaces, overcoming architectural barriers and destigmatizing them.
