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Architects: JC Arquitectura, Kiltro Polaris Arquitectura
- Area: 797 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Cesar Béjar, Oscar Hernández
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Manufacturers: Novaceramic
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Lead Architects: Victor Imre Ebergenyi Kelly, Juan Carral O’Gorman
Text description provided by the architects. Unlike many of the Mexican cities that began as colonial settlements, the city of Escárcega was established in the early twentieth century as a settlement for exploiting gum, rubber, and logwood. One of its camps, named ‘Kilómetro 47,’ gave it its origin, but it was the engineer Francisco Escárcega Márquez who gave it its name. With the intention of expanding the railroad from Veracruz to the Yucatán peninsula, Escárcega was responsible for connecting what would become Ferrosur, the railroad of the southeast, by land. It was not until the year 1990 that the Escárcega communal farmland became a municipality and what, today, is a city of the state of Campeche. This city currently has a population of approximately 32,000, and its strength lies in its privileged geographic location: the city works as a hub that connects Villahermosa, Tabasco (and its Connecting routes into the state of Veracruz); Chetumal, Quintana Roo to the east; and Mérida, Yucatán to the north.
Nearly 100 years after the first settlements and with the city’s prominent railroad tradition, through a federal investment program, Escárcega has the possibility of complementing and improving its urban infrastructure. Within this context and along with six other interventions, Centro de Salud N1 (N1 Health Center) is introduced as an apparent concrete structure that will serve the people who live there. While its purpose has been defined as a basic treatment clinic, Centro de Salud N1 is conceived as a versatile, well-ventilated, and illuminated structure that, if necessary, has the possibility of a wide variety of uses. With this in mind, the building can last over time and be adapted to the changing needs of a growing city.
In terms of architectural planning, it has a series of structural bays that are designed using barrel vaults of raw concrete. These bays can have different uses and work as transition areas (open halls), inhabitable spaces with defined purposes (doctor’s offices, pharmacies, administrative areas, multipurpose rooms, treatment rooms, etc.), or host a service area that connects all the rooms. The structural system for the entire project employs six barrel vaults that are interrupted by a series of courtyards. These courtyards allow for rainwater catchment, natural lighting, covered walkways for staff and patients, and natural ventilation for all the rooms. It is a clinic that is open to the city and, through a series of versatile bays and central courtyards, offers access to basic health services.
