The Hospital del Mar expansion and refurbishment project had a twofold objective: to define the new functional and physical organisation of the Olympic Hospital and to specify its structure and image within the actions and urban projects of the immediate seafront.
From an urban point of view, the new hospital buildings had to connect the Barceloneta district with the new Olympic Village by organising a new façade of the promenade. On the other hand, there was a wish to integrate these hospital and research facilities with the plot of green spaces on the seafront, offering environmentally friendly, pleasant and spongy architectural spaces.
Natural light, indoor relationships and the search for a home environment were the parameters that guided the definition of the project. Obtaining this comfortable home environment is proposed both from the functional personalisation of the building, avoiding the overcrowding in hospital accesses, consultations and services, and from the personalisation of each subset of the hospital. We are also working on deepening the functional contents of each space to enable the appropriation of these spaces by health personnel.
To avoid the feeling of a building that is too large and anonymous, with overcrowded spaces, each subset of the hospital is personalised to make it possible to identify it, through its shape, materials, colour and light. In order to achieve a domestic atmosphere, both from the design of the building and from the equipment, it is necessary to delve into the contents of the space. The idea of space comfort was born, in part, from the possibility of appropriating space. In this sense, every effort has been made to ensure that all facilities are integrated into the general environment in the most harmonious way possible. All spaces enjoy the most advanced facilities, but they are not flaunted. Furniture is an essential element in the personalisation of architectural spaces and in obtaining the aforementioned domestic environment.
