SANTARÉM, PORTUGAL 2007

This building is organized in a horizontal way in two floors on top of a technical basement, occupying an area of roughly 65x 65 meters. This scheme aims to respond to the operational requirements of such a program, in which circulation and access for disabled people and/ or bedridden are pressing. The ground floor is opened to the outside world, organizing various programs for outpatient visits and examinations. The upper floor is, however, reserved, establishing spaces for operating units, on one hand, and the Continuing Care Unit, on the other, organized around two large courtyards. The circuits of the technical infrastructure, of large dimension and complexity, run the exterior of the building in technical galleries on the facades and roof, solving the crossing of permanent maintenance with the circulation of patients and medical staff.

Thus, it reveals the circulatory system of the construction itself, remaining visible the circuits and tubes of air conditioning, of medical gases and electrical installations, facilitating access to the various equipments and freeing up the corridors and interior circulation for people. Also the building structure remains visible, revealing the skeleton supporting the built body. On the glazing of the facades, an artistic intervention by Fernanda Fragateiro intends to recreate, in an abstract way, the techniques of radiographic impression, contributing to the additional shading of the interior spaces. The building will assume, therefore, a distinctly contemporary image, for which will also contribute the technical infrastructure required for its proper functioning.