LA ROBLA HEALTHCARE CENTER

LA ROBLA HEALTHCARE CENTER
A project by QUIRÓS PRESA

The 1,000 useful square meters ground floor health center in La Robla is built around an interior patio. Each of the sides of the square layout serves a different function: administration on the east, doctors’ surgeries on the south, emergency department on the west, and storage on the north. The interior garden patio is the heart of the project, offering light, ventilation, views and, as it connects to the waiting rooms, it offers an open-air space to relax.
The project prioritised the use of natural materials found in the proximity, in order to reduce the carbon footprint as much as possible. Standing out is the facade built with gabions filled with concrete rubble recovered from the demolition of the old coal thermal power plant in La Robla. This recycled material, found near the health center (0Km), offers a significant thermal inertia, apart from fulfilling an aesthetic and sentimental objective as it recalls the recent history of La Robla’s landscape and its energy transition in a unique facade rooted in the historical events of the territory.
The health center seeks to be an energy-efficient benchmark. Designed from passive and bioclimatic criteria, it forgoes the use of combustion fossils, covering most of its energy requirements via its own production, with the installation of photovoltaic solar panels on the roof.
Inaugurated in 2023, at a cost of 1,000€/m2, it became the second healthcare facility in Spain to be awarded the prestigious PassivHaus energy efficiency certificate.

Credits:

Architecture: QUIRÓS PRESA | Itziar Quirós
Collaborators:​Javier Ibán y Raquel Catalán
Structures: ​Laura GonzaloE
Facilities: ​Rafael Juan y Tomás Martínez
Quantity Surveyor: Iván del Cueto
Contractor: ​VDL SL
Date: 2023
Locationn: La Robla, León, Spain
Photography: Imagen Subliminal (Rocío Romero + Miguel de Guzman)