Elefante Blanco

Elefante Blanco - an Aesthetic Clinic

The background

The total lot was legally composed by the mixed of two accidental lots. The client, a medical cosmetic surgeon, needs spaces that not only fulfill the requirements of the primary function. These were private rooms for post-operative patients, long-stay suites, SPA and medical offices for rent. Because it was located on side streets he wanted to be seen by all sides.

How we confront design

For us, the lot had a very clear language how to develop the project. In our analysis and process we found that the urban dameral configuration was pushed geographically inwards from the end of an existing estuary, generating a squeeze effect between the parallel avenues. The urban result was that many blocks suffered cuts on their sides causing them to change dramatically at least one side. Our Building design has to be cut, regard the urban language; it should carry a sense of history that environment show us.

The Final Outcome

The cosmetic surgery gave us a valid point for continuing our process for designing the building. When you cut virtually o physically something, like an orange, a marble stone, or even the human body (in a medical sense), you can easily study how is made the structure, its geometrical composition, its physical material components, its ages and so on. Also, some parts are more dense composition as a mass or volume than others which are so thin you can observe the layer composition as an envelope of the object. That is why the building appears as a big whole unit, and shows part of it is inside functionality, and the back geometry composition reflecting on the façade (the vertical white and black). The building try not to hide but shows how it is configured from inside, also in a way of how it can respond to people. The architecture is responsible for what it is and what can it teach to all of us.