The Quironsalud Hospital Badalona, located in the northwest corner of the Casagemes district, is a healthcare centre adapted to its surroundings, having developed an optimised functional design and prioritising patient well-being above all. The total area of the hospital is 16,480.50 m² and has 36 rooms available. The human scale of the project incorporates all the tools of healthcare architecture to humanise the spaces and to provide an ideal solution to the design and programming complexity of this healthcare facility.
The prominence of natural light
The design of the building is adapted to the conditions of the site. The programme units are arranged around the perimeter of the plot, supported by an interior courtyard that promotes natural light in the building’s rooms and gives cohesion to the project. The final result is a healthcare architecture project that is configured around the central courtyard on the lower floors and rises vertically in two volumes, clearly differentiated by their use and height, and connected to each other by walkways on the ground and first floors. The introduction of skylights has made it possible to bring natural light into less accessible areas.
The exterior of the building consists of prefabricated white concrete elements that allow the modular façade to be arranged with alternating windows running at different heights, depending on the unit it serves, helping to improve execution times and workflow.
Optimised design distribution
Organisational criteria included: the general concept of the healthcare centre, organisation by clinical processes, the centralisation of shared resources, the characteristics of each area and the typological relationships between them, and the functional units. The design is not only evident in the new building, but it also blends in with the ground floor of an existing building to the northwest. This is where the consulting rooms are located, with dedicated and independent access points and communication hubs. The ground floor houses the most immediately accessible functional units: outpatient care, diagnostic imaging, extractions, laboratories, and the emergency area. On the first floor are the treatment units and the surgical block with 6 operating theatres, 12 AER stations, 6 ICU boxes, as well as the day hospital with 10 boxes. There is a hospitalisation unit on the second and third floors with 18 rooms per floor. The second floor of the existing building houses the consultation area as well as an endoscopy unit. The fourth and fifth floors are reserved for future expansion.
The humanisation of spaces for well-being and health
The healthcare facilities have been built with energy-efficient systems and incorporate renewable energy to minimise operating costs and reduce environmental pollution. High-efficiency aerothermal equipment is used for cooling and a photovoltaic solar energy system for electricity.
For the new Quironsalud Hospital Badalona special care has been taken in the use of colour, the quality of the cladding in the different spaces, the lighting, and the choice of singular elements. The careful selection of materials aims to promote inclusive, safe, and healthy spaces as well as to give the building an architectural quality that will last for many years to come.
