design: BIRO
project team: Hrvoje Arbanas, Tihana Bosnar, Saša Košuta, Mario Kralj, Dora Lončarić, Vana Pavlić
client: City of Zagreb
location: Špansko, Zagreb
status: architectural competition, 4th award
project year: 2019
The Špansko Outpatient Clinic project of the Zagreb West Community Health Center is formed as a new structure that will replace and complement, in terms of facilities, the existing building which will eventually be removed.
The design of the Health Center building and its immediate environment takes into account the original concept of the 1977 urban plan, which dictated the development of the wider context of the district. The project emphasizes an indented pavilion construction within a lush parkland belt. The pedestrian flows connecting the neighborhood with the park and other public amenities penetrate the volume of the Health Center and create new public gathering points. The tall greenery is enhanced and the area designated for parking is reconstructed.
Next to the pedestrian penetrations through the Health Center, the main entrances as well as covered and uncovered plazas are formed. The central ground-floor volume gathers the public and common amenities, both in service of the Health Center and the wider neighborhood. The spatial complex of the intersecting two-storey wings organizes a simple and clear access and communication of the users through all departments of the health Center. Vertical communications are positioned at the intersection of the wings, with a horizontal corridor network connected to them. The monotony of the utilitarian corridors is interrupted by numerous extensions in the form of waiting rooms.
The horizontal differentiation of the solid and glazed facade segments of the surrounding residential apartment buildings also defines the façade of the Health Center. Two “thickened plates”, one between the storeys and one on the roof, define the glazed segments of the ground and first floor. The solid segments of the façade are further accentuated by the design of the columns of the open entry plazas and roof installation chimneys .