Second Place – Public
Day Care Center for People with Alzheimer’s Disease
Architect: RUBEN GARCIA-RUBIO
Design Team: Ruben Garcia-Rubio & Sonsoles Vela
Description:
The new Day Care Center for People with Alzheimer’s Disease in Benavente (Spain), arises from the aging of the region’s population. When designed, there was no proven scheme for this typology. Therefore, the first task was to understand the logic of this typology and crystallize it into an architectural scheme.
Another important starting point was the location of the Center within a double boundary situation (territorial and urban). On the one hand, the town is located on the periphery of the great Castilian plateau, so it is endowed with a particular topography. On the other hand, the plot is also located within a municipal boundary area, on a hill with a steep slope between an expansion area and farmland. This situation emphasizes again the conjunction of landscapes in the building.
All of these ideas motivated the positioning of the building in the upper part of the plot, to facilitate a stratum of it to rotate and tear the slope to create a new plain area. Then, in a second movement, part of that stratum rises another level vertically to protect the building on its urban front. Thus, a new line of the horizon is created, the main subject of the building, which not only symbolizes the synergy of the community in the face of this disease but also dialogues with the landscape.
Once on the surface, the emerging stratum is excavated to house the different spaces. These are divided into four zones according to their degrees of privacy and use. Thus, it is designed with a clear and resounding scheme that optimizes the operation of the building, allowing for simple, simultaneous and independent use of the different areas, and a maximized use of its energy resources.
The rest of the is a large two-level garden. However, both are conceived together due to their common conceptual origin, and the upper garden extends itself over the green roof and water storage. Hence, the building is related to the landscape, both formally and materially. This area is conceived as the largest room in the Center, as it encourages outdoor activities, and assures users direct contact with the outside and the landscape of their memory.
