AZPML: Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Maider Llaguno-Munitxa, Pep Wennberg, Ravi Lopes
Our central proposal for the redevelopment of this project is to create a new entrance for the Arnau de Vilanova Medical Complex which, given its large scale presents an addressing problem, with several entrances distributed around its perimeter. Given the recent urbanization of the Pinyana Avenue, with a main road section, and the construction of a new university building, we have chosen the north side of the plot to locate the new main entrance, and also the most public façade of the complex.
The massing proposal has two main objectives: On the one side it aims to expand the program in the most functional manner, establishing basic rules in the location of new uses under the criteria strictly driven by the hospital organization. On the other hand, the plan aims to maximize the potential of its strategic location to give presence to the institution. The new building will appear as a very visible in the border of a major access road which gives maximum visibility for anybody approaches from the various possible accesses from Lerida.
The materiality of the project becomes crucial to the project, which aims to extend the lineage of the ceramic finishes that every extension of the complex has adopted. The enlargement of the hospital expands this legacy and consistently applies ceramic finishes to provide a certain gravity or weight, as if the new building became a part of the existing topography. We are proposing to use ceramics for the facades. Through the deployment of a large ceramic system of brise soleils, we are aiming to provide a new unity to the different volumes of the complex.