ARCHITECTURE


the designing process of this type of institution. Having a clear structural module, an adequate beam-bottom level, maintaining a direct proximity between the installation’s conduit and the vertical circulation core, are some of the key elements for this flexibility and versatility to be achieved. That is the case of the new ICUs of the Hospital Privado Universitario de Córdoba, one of the medical institutions of major complexity within the inside provinces of Argentina, were the imperative necessity of increasing the number of beds for this service made the authorities of the hospital decide to move the administration, teaching, and computational centres away from the central building, where they had been located at the ground level of the building. Although these departments had accomplished their function very well in that location, it was not imperative for them to be there in order for the hospital to work correctly, while indeed there was a need for that space to be used for the new ICUs due to all of the reasons we explained at the beginning – a direct connection to the emergency area of the hospital at the same ground floor level and also to the circulation core which linked directly to other critical areas such as surgery, paediatric ICUs, neonatology, and regular internment. Besides these considerations, having the ICU at the ground level meant that in case of a personal emergency, especially from the patient point of view, they could be evacuated directly to the exterior, without the necessity of ramps accessible for stretchers. This was how the design for the new ICUs ended up being made inside the hospital’s existing structure. We took advantage of the space free of beams that it presented (3.44 m beam bottom level) so as to develop a technical space over the ceiling, providing a continuous space of around 80 cm height, capable of containing the passage of most of the installations, counting also the technical access needed for maintenance over the


Adult ICU layout.


common spaces and air circulation, minimising the need to disturb the attention inside the boxes.


Functional organisation Regarding the functional organisation, it is worth mentioning that ICU services are generally presented in a linear design layout with the boxes towards the perimeter. Depending on the width of the pavilion, they may have support premises at the centre (such us nursing checkpoints, internal pharmacies, offices, etc.), forming a rectangular niche of services that looks towards both sides so as to have direct visual identification for the patients. In the case that the width of the layout is not enough for it to be double, this niche leans


on one of the two sides of the pavilion and looks towards the patients, locating the boxes towards the side with more natural sunlight. Such functional organisation seeks to achieve the largest surface or perimeter of the façade with natural lighting and ventilation wherever possible. The challenge of this project was


precisely to get out of these almost standard design ideas, which result because the services are generally mounted on pavilion structures that in the future may continue upwards or downwards with internments or other services that must coexist under the same structural modulation. In our case, where the structure was a pre-existing one, we


Axonometric ICU. 68 IFHE DIGEST 2023


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