As a first step, architect Gabriel Gallegos Borges prioritized the restoration of the deteriorated original structure, which, defined by the harmonious arrangement of perimeter vertical supports, conveyed an orderly and serene image. The absence of interior supports allowed for a simple adaptation of the different spaces to the new functional program.
Following the renovation, the building is defined by spatial qualities that contribute to the well-being of users, healthcare staff, and patients at the Pinilla neighbourhood Health Center. By removing obsolete elements and highlighting the essence of the original values, the project successfully respects, preserves, and enhances the existing features.
Pinilla Health Center by Gabriel Gallegos Borges. Photograph by Gabriel Gallegos Alonso.
Pinilla Health Center by Gabriel Gallegos Borges. Photograph by Gabriel Gallegos Alonso.
Project description by Gabriel Gallegos Borges
The Health Center is located in the Pinilla neighbourhood of San Andrés del Rabanedo, a town adjacent to the city of León, in a residential area predominantly composed of detached single-family homes and apartment blocks, creating a harmonious and well-proportioned environment. However, the presence of an excessively large residential building, whose central position within the urban fabric completely disrupts the urban balance.
The original building was constructed in the early 1970s, commissioned by the National Housing Syndicate (Obra Sindical del Hogar) and designed as a Social and Cultural Center by the architect Ramón Cañas Represa. It was later transferred to the National Health Institute (INSALUD) and, in 2001, came under the jurisdiction of the Regional Ministry of Health of the Community of Castile and León.
It is a freestanding building with an L-shaped floor plan comprised of two blocks of two and three stories and a small, single-story annex, its formal and functional characteristics defined by its structural design. The orderly arrangement of the vertical supports around its perimeter, bordered horizontally by the raised imposts of the floor slabs, defined a serene, balanced image of the exterior walls. The floor slabs are made up of a system of prestressed ceramic joists that contributes to the complete openness of the floors, free of interior supports, facilitating the adaptation and new interior layout of the functional program.
Partial renovations and successive additions during its initial adaptation as a healthcare center coexisted with empty, uninhabited sections that still maintained the layout of the original project; the lack of maintenance throughout the building's life resulted in an evident state of neglect and deterioration, compounded by the carbonation problem that was detected and which, to varying degrees, affected the building's structural elements.
The initial restoration and structural consolidation work was carried out in a preliminary phase. Once the preliminary structural and construction issues were resolved, the project accelerated its initially slow pace in a later phase. The open-plan layout facilitated the appropriate distribution of the new functional program on the different levels, housed within a limestone and travertine envelope that has maintained the original compositional balance of the exterior walls based on the building's orderly structural framework.
The renovation and consolidation work has successfully supported and reinforced the existing building, preserving and enhancing its inherent values, which have served as a guide and contributed to creating the desired space of well-being for all users—healthcare staff and patients—of the Pinilla neighborhood Health Center.
