Among almost 10,000 design and architecture projects submitted to the prestigious international IF Design award, the Valencian practice Lecoc Arquitectura, founded in 2017 by Alicia Medrano and Fernando Pedrosa, has received one of the recognitions for its Oncopole L’Espoir project, an oncology hospital in Oran, Algeria, the only construction in Africa and the Middle East to win the award. The positive impact on the country, its contemporary design inspired in traditional Mediterranean architecture and its sustainability criteria have been enough to recognise the work of these architects, whose trajectory already includes other clinics and hospitals as well as other types of projects in Spain, Africa and Europe. Another of their projects, in fact, the Clinica Cózar in Valencia, has also been a finalist in these same awards. For the jury of the awards, ‘the Oncopole project appeals to the traditional architectural charm and wisdom of Algeria to accommodate a place within the landscape of a Mediterranean city as legendary as Oran. Located near the University of Science and Technology of Oran, on a plot of irregular polygonal geometry. In the city of Oran, and in Algeria in general, access to cancer diagnosis and treatment is difficult. This project is committed to healthcare, with the best medical equipment and equipment of the highest quality for the care of cancer patients. To find out more about the winning project, we wanted to talk first-hand with its protagonists:
Sanitary architecture
The design of a hospital or healthcare centre has certain technical requirements when it comes to architectural design which, in this case, Lecoc has resolved by giving a balance to the whole, dominated by white and broken grey tones and by trying to open up the spaces as much as possible to natural light. ‘Everything is focused on patient comfort, health and wellbeing. What we wanted to transmit is a space of serenity and calm. This is something that all our projects have in common, even the residential ones, we always put people at the centre. In this case, the play with lighting is fundamental. There is a central courtyard that illuminates all the spaces along the route, even the basement has natural lighting. It’s a space that is pleasant to walk through, it’s very peaceful,’ they tell us. ‘In the end, it is about trying to ensure that architecture is also capable of improving the patient’s state of mind and health.
For the technical requirements, they relied on a team of professionals to develop all the medical, clinical and technological requirements. ‘There is a lot of difference in this type of project in terms of the technical and functional requirements that a hospital has to meet, from the organisation of space, circulation, staff and patient flows, medical planning. You have to think about how these rooms work, at what temperature and what degree of humidity the rooms should have. For example, this centre has radiology technology, and for this reason, CAT scan and magnetic resonance imaging rooms have been designed with certain technical requirements, even the bunkers covered by cubic metres of concrete (walls more than two metres wide) because there are devices that release radiation that have to be controlled,’ explain the architects.
A facade with character and sustainability
The project also draws on the traditional architecture of Algeria and Oran, reinterpreting elements such as the musharabia in a contemporary way, establishing a dialogue with the environment and offering a solution to protect the building from the sun. ‘This reinterpreted facade is based on local and Mediterranean culture but with a contemporary material, a high-performance concrete. It is an element of which we have found many references in Algeria, protecting both from the sun and from the view, generating intimacy,’ they tell us.
This facade has also been designed with sustainability criteria in mind and adapting the building to the climate of the region. ‘Oran has a climate very similar to Alicante, with many hours of sunshine and high temperatures in summer. We therefore studied the site’s orientations very carefully and how to protect it from the sun, especially on the most problematic facades, the exterior ones. The facade is a double skin, it is ventilated. The outer skin has a double function, both aesthetic and solar protection’, they explain. In terms of installations, with the help of a technical team, everything was designed so that all the systems meet energy efficiency criteria. ‘In terms of climatic parameters, we have taken care of the façades; the roofs, which are protected with high-density insulation; the glazing, with low emissivity and solar control; the orientation, cross ventilation, etc.’, they explain. The studio is associated with Breeam, one of the seals of certification for sustainable construction, from which they also carry out projects for almost zero consumption buildings.
International projection
Since 2017, the two partners of Lecoc, both architects, have been carrying out projects centred on this sustainability with a focus on people, respecting the roots and essence of each culture: Valencia, Algiers, Oran, Madrid, Majorca and Berlin, among other locations. Their star project, this hospital in Oran, has given them projection in the Middle East, not only in Algeria, where they already have three hospitals. We will stay tuned, because they are announcing upcoming projects in our country as well.
