Rai Pinto Studio and Arauna Studio are committed to the humanisation of healthcare spaces, as demonstrated by their project for the Pediatric Cancer Center in Barcelona.

The Pediatric Cancer Center Barcelona is a building dedicated exclusively to the treatment and research of childhood cancer, located in the surroundings of the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, the driving force behind the project. The Rai Pinto Studio and Arauna Studio teams have developed a design project for the spaces of this new building, planned by the Pinearq architecture studio.

The location of the centre on the border between the city of Barcelona and the slopes of the Sierra de Collserola Natural Park has led to the integration of a nature-based narrative into the design. Through observation and play, the centre’s interiors reveal how many organisms in our natural environment have developed incredible characteristics in order to survive. This discourse is linked in an allegorical way to the concepts of resilience and overcoming of children suffering from cancer.

The spaces are dressed in the forms of augmented elements of nature. In this way, what we often do not see is made visible and the importance of nature and its extraordinary and creative activities in finding ways to live is emphasised. Butterflies that make long journeys and take care of each other at night to protect themselves; seeds that are carried by the wind over long distances; birds that migrate incredible distances; flowers with surprising properties, are some of the examples we can find.

The large-scale silhouettes cover large surfaces and emerge from the plane of the wall or window, visually modifying the perception of the architectural planes through their organic forms. In this way, the figures are no longer evident and room is left for interpretation, encouraging play, creativity and participation.

Throughout the building there are several living and play rooms, each themed after a different ecosystem of the planet: the Sahara, the Arctic, the Amazon, as well as the high mountains and the seabed.

In the main hall an interactive installation has been designed in collaboration with the Domestic Data Streamers studio. A virtual forest created by 5 giant double-sided screens that are a portal to the outside, the nature of Collserola. This installation, which aims to bring nature closer to the children in the hospital, plays with the local flora and fauna and with the changes in the outside world (the time of day, the seasons and the weather). A magical forest that also comes to life with the interaction of the children, who can fill the screens with colours, personalised animals, or generate a tornado of wind or butterflies. All this through 5 interaction totems that play with the idea of altering the digital from the physical in an unexpected way.

The seating collection for the living room has been custom-designed in collaboration with the industrial design team Mermelada Estudio. This furniture system is inspired by invertebrate animals and consists of sets of sofas, benches, armchairs and poufs that fit together, combining relaxation and play.

The space design project for the Pediatric Cancer Center Barcelona opens a new line of work linked to that already developed in recent years by Rai Pinto Studio and Arauna Studio in the interiors of the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu and which has won international awards such as Art Directors Club, Interior Design Magazine, D&AD or ADG Laus.

This project solves a long list of the centre’s needs, such as the design of spaces, graphic design applied to spaces, furniture design, textile design and signage, among others, such as the interactive elements or the system for thanking the donors who have made the centre possible.

The ultimate goal is to humanise the architecture of the hospital, to adapt it to the needs of children so that they feel comfortable and can experience an already unfriendly experience in a playful way.

Project: Pediatric Cancer Center de Barcelona.
Customer: Hospital Sant Joan de Déu.
Finished: 2022
Creative direction and concept: Rai Pinto Studio / Arauna Studio.
Design of spaces: Rai Pinto Studio.
Graphic design: Arauna Studio.
Interactive design: Domestic Data Streamers.
Interactive programming: Edu Prats.
Design of seating systems: Mermelada Estudio.
Contents: La Mandarina de Newton.
Project team: Xavier Goñi, Giovanna Giampetruzzi, Raimond Pinto.
Architecture: Pinearq.
Photography: Arnau Rovira.

Rai Pinto Studio

Rai Pinto Studio is a design studio that specialises in transforming conceptual ideas into close spaces, developing a narrative and creating a visual language customised to meet the needs and context of each project, in order to craft a cohesive, aesthetic and humanising experience.
Led by Raimond Pinto Estrada, the studio uses a multidisciplinary design approach to solve the design needs of spaces, and has applied this holistic approach to numerous hospital and healthcare projects over the years, achieving expertise in delivering design solutions for healthcare.
The studio’s projects have been published by international media and awarded by design and art direction institutions.

Raimond Pinto Estrada

Space designer trained at the Escola Eina (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) and industrial designer trained at the Escola Massana (UAB). After working for several architecture and interior design studios, he set up his studio in Barcelona, Rai Pinto Studio. His work has been published in various media and recognised with awards from international institutions in the field of design and art direction. He has taught at Eina and has been invited to explain his work at other design schools.

Arauna Studio

Arauna is a graphic design studio based in Barcelona, founded in 2014 by Dani Rubio Arauna (Santander, 1986). They understand design as the development of tailor-made ideas for each project, which are materialised in versatile graphic systems that adapt to all kinds of media: visual identities, publications, spaces, campaigns, etcetera. They work from the global idea down to the smallest detail, with special attention to typography. Much of their work explores the ways in which graphic design can behave in architectural spaces and environments.

They have developed projects for institutions and companies of very different sizes and fields: culture, public services, industry, fashion, music, health, among others. They believe in a collaborative way of working, not only with the client, but also with other designers, architects and creatives, depending on each commission.

His work has been internationally recognised with awards such as the Art Directors Club, D&AD or Laus. Dani Rubio Arauna is a member of Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) since 2019.

Source: Rai Pinto Studio

Project by Rai Pinto Studio