El Puyo Hospital, Ecuador

The story of the Parametric Hospital started in response to two questions that arose during the development of a research project conducted in collaboration with Makiber S.A. The project consists in the design of a hospital model that solves the needs of efficiency, austerity, flexibility and urgency of constructing quickly. We perceived the latter need as crucial in many countries where we were working, and that needed to build or simply reinforce its healthcare network. Was it possible to design, build and equip a hospital in 12 months or less rather than the usual 3 years? And if it was possible, was it necessary? The analysis of the actual state of healthcare in these countries showed us that making a functional hospital two years earlier is equivalent to reducing their terrible reality of losing lives caused by a lack of an satisfactory healthcare network.

The Parametric Hospital aspires to be like an adjustable spanner: instead of having to use a specific tool tailored to each situation, it can adapt to any metric.

The process consists of defining a series of rules, metrics and strategies that are common to all health facilities to ensure their proper functioning: those that guarantee not only the proper functioning of the building, but also its customization from the beginning, as well as its adaptability to future changes. We parametrized the organization and location of the corridors according to their use, the metric of the plot and the spaces, the facade modulation, the strategies for future extensions, the location and hierarchy of the accesses, the location of installation galleries, and other rules that allow the start of the initial construction works to begin only with the definition of the generic functional plan of the property; this allows the design process and the construction process to overlap. An experience that makes El Puyo Hospital a leading reference point.

This methodology was granted with an official patent in 2016, the first known in the architecture sector, and an International FAD Award in 2016, among other important recognitions. From a technical point of view, El Puyo Hospital consists of 21 alternate gable roof pavilions connected by two main corridors -one for the staff and the other for patients and visitors. Both corridors are disposed lengthwise and in such a way that they allow the 21 pavilions to be categorized into 3 different access groups: one that only requires access from the public corridor, one that only requires access from the service corridor, and the third one that demands access from both corridors.

This spatial pavilion-type composition allows all hospital rooms to benefit from natural daylight and natural ventilation thanks to the patios located between each pavilion. This increases energy efficiency with respect to lightning and air-conditioning control systems, making the rooms to be particularly suitable for its users.