Magazine Text: Diseño Interior Nr 353

The intervention achieves the objective of combining medical and educational practice, and at the same time transferring a philosophy of close and personal patient care, in which beauty is understood as an expression of health.

ADCV Gold Award 2022, ERRE Arquitectura signs the renovation of the new headquarters of the Alejandría Dermatology Clinic, in the center of Valencia. A space that, as its promoter, Laura Cubells, wanted, “was consistent with our philosophy and would allow us to fully develop our comprehensive dermatological and teaching vision.” The search for a place that would make it possible to combine this double medical and training function was not easy. Finally, the property found a ground floor of about 350 m2 to which was joined an old abandoned paper factory, wide and with double height, connected by a patio. The space offered many advantages, but also drawbacks that were difficult to solve”, explain the architects. “One of them was to avoid that, in such a large and deep place, both workers and patients had the sensation of being enclosed between four walls, that they did not lose their connection with the outside, with light and with nature.” For this reason, they took advantage of the original patio to turn it into the heart of the project, in connection with the main waiting area for patients. “Its geometry, light and vegetation, together with the materiality of the interior, welcomes, envelops and accompanies you throughout the journey”, they explain. As the owner wished, the main objective was for the space to transmit the philosophy of Alejandría, as well as its way of understanding the practice of medicine in a warm and close way to the patient. “We have worked to design a project where both the common spaces and those intended for patient consultation have the same degree of importance, they explain from the studio. Reception and circulation areas have been created with proportions greater than what is strictly necessary, comfortable and healthy places to stay through a special and comfortable atmosphere”.

The curved shapes and surfaces, and the semicircular arch as emblematic geometry aim to create an environment where “you can breathe silence and feel beauty”. “The use of clay mortar to plaster the walls, in combination with the walnut wood for carpentry and furniture, forms a sincere, close and tactile materiality”, the authors continue. Along with it, the attention to detail, the incorporation of natural light or vegetation are some of the aspects that have helped shape the new image of this clinic in accordance with its philosophy, in which beauty is the maximum expression of health, and where personal and quality care is reflected even in the consultation table, designed by ERRE, thinking both about the worker and the closeness to the patient.

As its owner wanted, one of the differentiating characteristics of Alejandría is the link that is continuously produced between medicine and teaching. To do this, “the strategy was based on dividing and organizing the program into two levels. The reception and consultation boxes are located at the bottom. The superior is intended for training spaces both for the Alejandría medical team and for other professionals interested in acquiring or sharing knowledge”. This continuity of both levels is especially materialized in Hypatia, a double-height space in which the teaching area looks directly onto the consultation rooms on the lower level.

In a sector such as dermatology, in which advances are incessant, it was important for the clinic to have the most advanced technology, as well as to achieve the necessary flexibility to be able to adapt to new medical and professional challenges. For this reason, ventilation systems have been included that allow constant air renewal, adapted to current sanitary requirements. In addition, glasses have been used that provide privacy and versatility, depending on the situation.

Regarding the lighting, the aim has been to create an image that is as aseptic, calm and coherent with the project, always looking for indirect light and avoiding superfluous elements that generate visual noise. ■ di

After years of medical assistance at the head of Cubells Clínica Dermatológica, I observed that attending patients with the highest possible quality was not only something that filled my soul, but also filled the void that each patient I attended, to a greater or lesser extent.

The passion I feel for medicine, and my teaching character, permeate each and every medical act. Teaching is the best tool to reach the patient, to make him or her a participant in his or her condition. The power of listening and words is immense. How good it is to feel understood and to understand what is happening to you, and how many fears and uncertainties are caused by the lack of it.

I understand medicine as a vocation of service, of closeness, of careful attention, of giving oneself, without holding anything back. “The patient has trusted you from the start, leave your skin”.

Keep nothing back, neither towards the patient, nor towards other colleagues. Knowledge does not belong to anyone, we must transmit it, share it, only in this way will it grow; and put it at the service of the patient, or the patient who simply wants to look better, without transforming himself.

At this point of improving without transforming, I conceive the dermatologist as a key professional to carry out the aesthetic treatments that can do us so much good nowadays. We are the specialist of the skin, the sick and the healthy, and we can make the most of the natural beauty of each person.

I believe that there is a need in society that is still difficult to satisfy in medicine: the need to be cared for with the utmost professionalism and the utmost human warmth at the same time. That is why I came up with this exciting project.

I wanted to gather around me the most brilliant minds, but only those with a big heart as standard. Those who enjoyed taking care of others, putting themselves at the service of others, repairing the damage caused by the patient, and making the most of the beauty of each patient, according to their art.

All this was done in a serious, systematic, very disciplined and methodical way In a center where the most advanced knowledge is breathed, and where science and art palpitate in unison.

And, thus, it was born:

Alejandría medical and teaching center.

Laura Cubells

“There was a community of scholars in the library exploring physics, literature, medicine, astronomy, geography, philosophy, mathematics, biology, and engineering. Science and scholarship had reached their adulthood. The genius flourished in those rooms.” On the Library of Alexandria, in Cosmos, by Carl Sagan