The new Clínic and the Porta Diagonal

When I read press releases about certain projects, I sometimes throw up my hands in horror. In the case of the Clínic, it is stated that construction will begin in 2030 and that the overall investment will be 1.7 billion euros. Will this schedule be viable? I believe it will only be feasible if, collectively, we are able to discern between what is critical for the hospital and what is critical for the city, and if the difficult issues are addressed from the outset. In other words: forming a consortium is relatively easy. Deciding what built legacy this consortium will leave in the metropolis over the next hundred years is more difficult and requires specialized medical knowledge, but also a certain humanistic perspective.

In his seminal book Flesh and stoneRichard Sennett writes about issues of substance that have governed city-building since long before functionalism. The author reviews the profound connections between bodies (gender, power), architecture, and the form of the city. Applied to the case of the new Clínic, I wonder whether this new hospital should be conceived as a large unit (like an airport or a shopping center) or whether it should be fragmented so that the city flows through it, allowing L'Hospitalet and Esplugues to better connect.

The built area of the new Clínic It will be 290,000 square meters. This is equivalent to the sum of the residential roofs of a municipality with, for example, around 2,500 homes. This size is nothing new: the latest major approved sectors mandate a roof of around 300,000 m2, with residential and economic uses. This is the case of the Tres Chimeneas PDU (Department of Urban Development) or the UPC Diagonal-Besós Campus, which has a maximum buildable roof of 150,000 m2 and is by no means exhausted (there are still many empty plots). But these plans mandate diverse uses in buildings arranged around numerous streets and green areas: public space reigns supreme. In the case of the Clínic, the initial ideas point to a large complex pierced by courtyards. This is more like a shopping mall than a Mediterranean city of streets and squares.

Domènech i Montaner already faced the question of how to organize a single building with a large program 100 years ago, and studied dozens of hospital floors in military, maritime, and epidemiological complexes. At the time, the prevailing logic was that of pavilions, which allowed for narrow bays with large communal rooms where patients could enjoy the sun and natural ventilation. The pavilion offered comfort to patients, and also to the city, because the gardens within the complex allowed for the circulation of pedestrians, doctors, and convalescents.

Given the billion-dollar investment, the project is expected to bring Diagonal and Collserola streets closer to the residents of Pubilla Cases, in Hospitalet, a neighborhood with socioeconomic indicators opposite to Pedralbes. For now, the drawings are outlined against the Collblanc road, but right behind it lies one of the most densely populated areas in Europe. How do you fit a 200,000 m² building into the most prized corner of Barcelona so that it doesn't become a barrier? Views will be essential here: the gently sloping topography can be a good resource for considering how patients will enjoy the Mediterranean views from their beds, while the built volumes will need to be worked on so that Diagonal Street can be seen from Albéniz and General Manso streets and the new metro stop can be mentally brought closer. The size of the plot, which measures more than 350x300 m, already indicates that deciding where the entrances will be and how the new metro station will be accessed on foot will be key. The hospital must not be incompatible with access to Diagonal every 100 meters.

In this new temple dedicated to care, the size, position, and orientation of the beds is fundamental. A poor project would repeat rooms in any orientation. A conscious and serious project would design, from the outset, where the windows will face and what times the sun will be able to enter. Issues such as nighttime silence (avoiding shouting, sliding doors, and noise between rooms) and the possibility of family members staying with them during long nights have been proven to improve patient recovery. Operating rooms, technically, must be isolated and can be located in many locations, even underground. Bedrooms cannot. And putting people at the center means thinking about the hospital from the bedside. It would be spectacular to be able to start the project by building a prototype room, open to the public, near Diagonal. And to talk about the feel, the materiality of the building so that it doesn't look like a duty-free and instead, it becomes closer to home, or to the great temple that eventually became San Pablo.

Once these issues are resolved, we can then talk about waiting areas, common rooms, the well-being of doctors, and children's playgrounds in front of the hospital for children to escape. And later, we'll talk about parking, the climate, artificial lighting, and the hundreds of secondary issues that will also influence the project. But urban criteria and care cannot be ignored.