Architect Mónica Alberola designs the expansion and renovation of the National School of Public Health, connecting it to the Health Sciences Library

The work presented here begins with the call for a competition promoted, in 2019, by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), under the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. It is the Expansion and Reform of the National School of Health (ENS) and its connection with the adjacent building: the Health Sciences Library.

As background, and to frame the action as essential within the actions promoted by the Public Administration, it should be explained that the mission of the ISCIII is to contribute to improving the health of all citizens, through the promotion of research and innovation in Health Sciences and Biomedicine, and at the same time the provision of scientific-technical reference services and teaching programmes aimed at the National Health System. Therefore, it is especially important to have facilities that are in line with their use and renovated.

The project is located in Madrid, on the Chamartín Campus of the ISCIII. The large campus is made up of a series of independent isolated buildings enclosed by a fence and connected to each other by interior streets for pedestrian and vehicular traffic.

The initial state of the pavilions that were the object of the intervention is the result of a heterogeneous set of spaces and volumes that were incapable, at that time, of adequately satisfying the activities of the ENS and its connection with the Library building.

The intervention aims to re-organise the existing programme and add new uses, so that the whole will revitalise the Campus and recover the prominence that the institution deserves.

Thus, the project establishes as a first strategy: the elimination of the negative impacts on the existing buildings and as a second, and most important, the creation of new spaces that give a unique and representative image to the complex and, at the same time, enable the research and teaching of the various institutions that make up the Campus to meet.

The newly built volumes are adapted to the terrain and the existing buildings, so that these new programmes: Atrium, General Campus Cafeteria and Auditorium, give character and articulate the existing, achieving a unitary image of the whole. Solving and enabling total accessibility by controlling the different levels, both exterior and interior, has been another of the main driving forces behind the project.

A large atrium as the main articulating element

A large atrium or hallway runs longitudinally through the space between pavilions and becomes a new area that acts as the main articulating element; it is a space of great height modulated by the structure and its continuous rhythm envelope; a modulation that allows the complexity of the fit between the new and existing spaces to be articulated in a natural way. The natural light, which enters through this envelope, determines the interior atmosphere and the exterior area that previously existed between the dividing walls of the Library and the School is now transformed into a permeable space that connects the entire programme.

The new Cafeteria, which finishes off the volume of the atrium to the east, is on two floors. The upper floor is at the level of the street that borders the plot to the east, which allows direct access from its outdoor terrace. The ground floor is located at one end of the entrance hall, with entrance through it and also independent from the outside, again the volume articulates the existing unevenness in the plot and collects the pedestrian flow of users from the rest of the campus.

The Auditorium, a new addition to the ensemble

The Auditorium is an important intervention, both in terms of its size and as a new volume to be incorporated into the complex. Its accesses are articulated from the large hallway on two levels, inside the box, which is quite sober, must represent its institutional nature, the geometry helps acoustically and to resolve the translation booths.

New foyers for access to the teachingoffices to the south and the library itself, to the west, are completely refurbished to offer different conditions for activities and to encourage other more spontaneous activities that a teaching space should offer.

Actions in the surrounding area

The reorganisation of the whole complex involves actions in the surrounding area. A garden of organic geometry surrounds the project, arranges the slopes and allows accessible routes. The approach to the building is friendly, the garden acts as a catalyst between the artificial and the natural: a new space that completes the botanical path that the Campus has.

Promoting the refurbishment and extension of obsolete buildings and outdated spaces by the State Administration gives value to this public initiative. The low cost of this complex action must also be valued, as the total renovation offered, with sustainable and conscious construction and facilities, adequate spaces and friendly atmospheres will enable the growth and visibility that the ISCIII deserves.

Project: Ampliación y Reforma de los pabellones 7 y 8 de la Escuela de Sanidad en el Campus del Instituto Carlos III de Chamartín. Madrid
Location: Monforte de Lemos 5. Madrid.
Dates: Concurso 2019. Proyecto 2020. Obra 2021-2024
Developer/ownership: Instituto de Salud Carlos III. Ministerio de Ciencia Innovación y Universidades
Author: Mónica Alberola, arquitecta.
Partners: Los arquitectos María Casariego, Enrique de Teresa y Guiomar Martín.
Technical architecture: Juan Carlos Corona, David Gil, Juan Antonio Ramiro Garfella.
Engineering: JG (instalaciones y energía); Fhercor (cálculo estructural)
Building contractor: ACC.
Photography: Alberto Amores.
Affected area: 8.500 m².
Text: Mónica Alberola Peiró.

Mónica Alberola Peiró

Mónica Alberola Peiró (1965). Architect by the Polytechnic University of Madrid and Doctor of Architecture (Sob. Cum Laude, with International Doc. mention, UPM 2021. In 1996, together with Consuelo Martorell, they founded the Alberolamartorell studio, in 2018 with the incorporation of the architects María Casariego Cordoba and Guiomar Martín Domínguez and the architect Enrique de Teresa Trilla, they baptise the studio as Oficinapreposicional,”these are prepositional times…” they say.

The studio has focused its activity on works for the recovery of heritage and new buildings, in which competitions have been the main driving force behind its professional activity, winning prizes in project and construction competitions, including: 1st Prize for the Expansion and Refurbishment of pavilions 7 and 8 of the ISCIII Campus in Chamartín. 2019. 1st Mention Premio europeo di architettura Ugo Rivolta. 2013. 1st Prize Ex Macello de Arona. Italy. 2012. Award VPO IX BEAU 22 social housing in the Rastro. Madrid.2011. 1st Prize 982 dwellings in the PAU Ahijones. IVIMA. Madrid. 2007. 1st Prize. Housing, Plaza del General Vara del Rey, Madrid, emvs. Madrid. 2005. Prize XIX Urban Planning Awards,

His work has been part of national and international group exhibitions, among them: Sustainable Habitat Forum Competition, MIND THE GAP, Futuro. On pause, Crudo 100%. XI Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism, I+D+VS. Futures of social housing in 7 cities. Madrid, Madrid in progress. Horizons of Public Housing, Madrid: Fad Awards, ENOR Awards, : 25 Years of EMVS February to April 2007. Gallery 1, RIBA, “Union Station”, Los Angeles (California, USA. 1996). Itinerant in Berlin, Bordeaux and Latin America and exhibition Recent work COAM.

Project by Mónica Alberola Peiró