adress/ carrer de la creu 42, paüls (cataluña)
surface area/ 180 m2

competition/ may 2008

architects/ vora arquitectura (pere buil and toni riba)
project team/ eva cotman, alessandro cozzo
client/ GISA

images/ Pere Abelló

what should a health centre be like? how should citizens perceive it? in a surrounding like this, a small mountain village, how do you relate to a public building with characteristics like these?

a health centre should be a pleasant building that transmits peace and safety to citizens and that knows that visitors are usually there to resolve health issues. so the way the building welcomes people becomes very important. we propose a building, integrated in the village texture, with an entry that offers serenity and peace to the ones that come for a medical visit. this building should be more than an object to admire; it should be a place to gaze at the mountain landscape, to feel calm. it should be a constant element that connects the patient to wellness.

at the corner of the site, where two streets converge to the health centre, the small volume is set back to form an exterior entry space that becomes a balcony. to merge better with the surroundings, this small volume has only one storey, like the nearby buildings. the rest of the program is developed in the lower floors, and as the ground slopes, the north façade gains a greater dimension and visibility, becoming another piece in the village’s panorama looking from the valley.

thinking on the small dimensions of the building, we wanted the public spaces to be large spaces so to create the double central space, the vestibule, the way down and the waiting room at the end.

in the waiting room, a large window reconnects the person with the landscape. during any moments of anxiety, you can find calmness in the stillness of the mountains. the neutral northern light helps to achieve this peaceful sensation. the route down terminates in the consultancy room, with views into the landscape, offering calmness and intimacy to the patient as well as to the doctor.

doctor surgery in paüls