The Santa Creu & Sant Pau Hospital Research Institute, designed by Pich Aguilera Arquitectes in conjunction with 2BMFG Arquitectos, stands in the Santa Creu & Sant Pau Hospital complex in Barcelona –one of the biggest Modernist Spanish architectural ensembles, declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO.
The Research Institute stands out for its striking ceramic envelope and its capacity to blend in with Sant Pau Hospital’s Modernist buildings, while also focusing on high energy savings and improved comfort inside the building. The ceramic slats were made to measure for the project by Faveker, a specialist in high-tech façade solutions.
A high-tech ceramic façade skin
The façade acts as a high-tech latticework ceramic skin. It has been designed to echo the colors of the Modernist hospital’s historic buildings, changing in appearance throughout the day, both inside and outside the building. Based on an existing adhesive-free prefabricated system of flexible slats, it includes braided steel mesh to hold the Faveker slats in place.
The project’s made-to-measure slats were extrusion manufactured. In total, some 45,000 slats were used, with a width of 42 cm and height of 10 cm to fit into the gaps in the mesh. The different models were specially produced by Faveker to coincide with the dimensions of the building and, above all, to ensure maximum energy efficiency and to blend in with the surrounding textures.
The ceramic system and the design of the slats give the whole building a sense of movement and a texture reminiscent of fish scales, in addition to providing substantial energy savings inside the building. The façade has a changing rhythm depending on the incidence of the sun and its reflective capacity. In addition, it filters the natural light that enters the building –while also providing greater privacy for researchers– which in turn light up the interiors with the latticework’s colors.
Slats that evoke the surrounding Modernist domes
The ceramic slats have a fold that juts out and protects the building from the sun. The slats on its south-facing façades have a horizontal fold, while the ones on the façades less exposed to the sun have a lateral fold. Thanks to these folds, from some angles, the polychrome mosaic that is visible inside the building can also be partly glimpsed from the outside.
The outer face of the slats was manufactured in several different shades of terracotta to blend in with the bricks of the historic buildings. The rear face was given a glossy bright glaze in the same colours as the tiles on the Modernist domes, and the slats were installed so that, inside the building, they form a mosaic evocative of the surrounding domes. The latticework continues on top of the building, forming the ceiling of the entrance floor.
Building research and technology played an important role in the whole of the architectural design and construction of the building so as to maximize savings on energy and materials and minimize costs. The building meets the most stringent current criteria in terms of sustainability and the circular economy.
It has therefore been given the maximum energy saving rating –an A–, and it has also been awarded the Leed Gold certificate for its minimal environmental impact. The circular economy was also a priority in the façade’s design and so it is dismantlable, convertible, and it uses bioclimatic techniques to save on energy consumption. It also combines efficient protection from solar radiation with good insulation and materials that guarantee a good thermal inertia. In comparison with a standard building of a similar type, this strategy has led to 62% savings on energy (48.5kwh/m2 year) and a 62% reduction in CO2 emissions per year (savings of 31.5kg CO2).
Project details:
Project: Santa Creu & Sant Pau Hospital Research Institute
Architects: PICHarchitects_Pich-Aguilera & 2BMFG Arquitectes
Structure: 2BMFG Arquitectes. Sustainability: PICHarchitects
Ceramic facade: Faveker
Photos: Aldo Amoretti
Leed Gold
Learn more about Faveker here.
