VHIR Research Centre Vall d’Hebron Campus design by BAAS arquitectura + ESPINET/UBACH
Project: VHIR Research Centre Vall d’Hebron Campus
Location: Vall d’Hebron Hospital Campus, Barcelona, Spain
Surface area: 17,000 m²
Authors: BAAS arquitectura (Jordi Badia, Jero Gutiérrez) + ESPINET/UBACH (Miquel Espinet)
Team: Eva Olavarria, Leandro Petrazzini, Laura Grau, Estela Roca, Eulàlia Martín
Collaborators: BIS (structures), PGI (installations), Ardèvols (budgeting), Jornet Llop Pastor (urban planning), Albert Bestard (green consultant), Virginia Otal + Enric Peña (site management) Completion date: July 2024
Competition date: May 2017 (jury: David Chipperfield, Anne Lacaton, Carlos Ferrater, Beth Galí, Marta Thorne, and Jaume Plensa)
Developer: Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), CatSalut, Vall d’Hebron
Contractor: Calaf + Agefred
Photography: Gregori Civera
Awards:
Finalist – La Casa de la Arquitectura Awards Shortlisted – CSCAE Awards 2025 (ongoing) Finalist – FAD Awards 2025 (ongoing)
Photos: Gregori Civera
Location: Vall d’Hebron Hospital Campus, Barcelona, Spain
Surface area: 17,000 m²
Authors: BAAS arquitectura (Jordi Badia, Jero Gutiérrez) + ESPINET/UBACH (Miquel Espinet)
Team: Eva Olavarria, Leandro Petrazzini, Laura Grau, Estela Roca, Eulàlia Martín
Collaborators: BIS (structures), PGI (installations), Ardèvols (budgeting), Jornet Llop Pastor (urban planning), Albert Bestard (green consultant), Virginia Otal + Enric Peña (site management) Completion date: July 2024
Competition date: May 2017 (jury: David Chipperfield, Anne Lacaton, Carlos Ferrater, Beth Galí, Marta Thorne, and Jaume Plensa)
Developer: Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), CatSalut, Vall d’Hebron
Contractor: Calaf + Agefred
Photography: Gregori Civera
Awards:
Finalist – La Casa de la Arquitectura Awards Shortlisted – CSCAE Awards 2025 (ongoing) Finalist – FAD Awards 2025 (ongoing)
Photos: Gregori Civera
The project stems from a general reflection on the Hospital Campus, which is currently a chaotic collection of disordered buildings with serious accessibility problems.
The proposal aims to create a large park connected to the surrounding neighborhoods and the city, improving both accessibility and permeability of the site. To achieve this, we propose a series of strategies:
The proposal aims to create a large park connected to the surrounding neighborhoods and the city, improving both accessibility and permeability of the site. To achieve this, we propose a series of strategies:
1. Open up the site by demolishing some obsolete buildings and relocating their programs into semi- underground structures, thus restoring the Campus to its original condition as a natural park with buildings.
2. Build two large flat promenades that cross the site horizontally, linking it with the Montbau and Sant Genís neighborhoods.
3. Create a new vertical access axis using escalators to improve accessibility both to the Campus and the adjacent neighborhoods.
2. Build two large flat promenades that cross the site horizontally, linking it with the Montbau and Sant Genís neighborhoods.
3. Create a new vertical access axis using escalators to improve accessibility both to the Campus and the adjacent neighborhoods.
The first building to kick-start this major transformation is the Vall d’Hebron Research Centre, VHIR. It is a building embedded in the mountainside with only one visible façade. It forms a fold in the topography, intended as a backdrop to the lower platform, and it literally disappears from the upper level, where it becomes an extension of the Collserola mountain landscape.
The floor plan is defined by three courtyards, one of which opens onto the façade to form a public square, along with terraces that run the length of the façade and link the laboratories with the outdoors.
The laboratories, arranged around the three courtyards, create a network of routes that combine interior and exterior spaces, generating areas for leisure and social interaction.
The floor plan is defined by three courtyards, one of which opens onto the façade to form a public square, along with terraces that run the length of the façade and link the laboratories with the outdoors.
The laboratories, arranged around the three courtyards, create a network of routes that combine interior and exterior spaces, generating areas for leisure and social interaction.
Source: BAAS arquitectura (Jordi Badia, Jero Gutiérrez) + ESPINET/UBACH (Miquel Espinet)
m i l i m e t d e s i g n – w h e r e t h e c o n v e r g e n c e o f u n i q u e c r e a t i v e s
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