Creating a giant oasis under a domed glass ceiling for the Research and Medical Center

Owned by Moshe Safdie, Safdie Architects have created a giant urban oasis under

the domed glass roof of a research and medical center in southern Sao Paulo, Brazil.

An upper courtyard with plenty of green space and large courtyards forms the heart of the new Albert Einstein Education and Research Center (AEERC),

which will open its doors for use in August.

AEERC is one of the most advanced Latin American institutions for medical research and study.

 

Creating a giant oasis under a domed glass ceiling for the Research and Medical Center
Creating a giant oasis under a domed glass ceiling for the Research and Medical Center

 

Design Features

AEERC is located in the residential district of Morumbi, São Paulo, next to the main hospital of Israelita Albert Einstein,

which is the latest initiative of the main Brazilian healthcare institute Sociedade Beneficente Israelita Brasileira Albert Einstein.

 

Creating a giant oasis under a domed glass ceiling for the Research and Medical Center
Creating a giant oasis under a domed glass ceiling for the Research and Medical Center

 

Outstanding teaching and research environment

Recognized as the first medical school to be established by a private hospital in Brazil,

the building was envisioned as an outstanding teaching and research environment.

Safdie building is connected to the main hospital next door to Israelita Albert Einstein via a walkway bridge.

The 44,000 square meter project was completed after an intense collaboration between the hospital and Safdie Architects,

which aimed to create an urban oasis and evoke a sense of calm that offers a counterpoint to the city’s activity.

The building’s laboratory spaces, classrooms and public areas, organized around a vaulted,

skylighted atrium, are intertwined with nature and embody the institution’s unique character.

Moshe Safdie and co has been perfect collaborators – their designs are both functional and beautiful.

 

Creating a giant oasis under a domed glass ceiling for the Research and Medical Center
Creating a giant oasis under a domed glass ceiling for the Research and Medical Center

 

Design shape

They also designed a space for them that goes beyond meeting human needs to create an upscale atmosphere that conveys

the mission of the center and is in line with their principles and values, this place reflects, body and soul.

The spacious garden lobby becomes the physical and symbolic axis of the building,

which can be considered the protagonist of the project.

This massive courtyard has been envisioned to provide opportunities for spontaneous interaction, collaboration and discovery, as well as rest and reflection.

According to the studio, the garden lobby serves as the community’s living room,

and can be seen from nearly every corner of the building.

The studio added a ‘layered feel’ to the lobby to direct the focus to the core of the building and create tiered terraces that connect the four main levels of activity.

These terraces form the heart of the building in a delicate and beautiful way.

While there is a restaurant on the first floor, the amphitheater and ballroom take place on the center floors,

and the exhibition/event space is designed on the fourth floor.

The garden lobby, planted with native trees and paved with local stone,

was designed in collaboration with São Paulo-based Isabel Dubrat Architecture.

Safdie Architects designed the foyer’s domed glass ceiling structure with innovative shading

and daylighting system with the resulting visual effect “to evoke the feeling of gathering under a leafy tree”.

To adapt to the changing climate in São Paulo, Safdie Architects worked with Seele,

a specialist German subcontractor and its local partners, to engineer a multi-tiered skylight system.

On the atrium floors, the studio used cobblestones, a local quartzite,

referring to paving found in public parks in São Paulo such as the Parque Trianon.

 

Creating a giant oasis under a domed glass ceiling for the Research and Medical Center
Creating a giant oasis under a domed glass ceiling for the Research and Medical Center

 

Design material

Several types of locally sourced wood were also used in the project,

including Jequitibá and Jatobá wood for the library and Cedro Rosso for the auditorium, according to the studio.

For example, the Imbuia wood used to wrap the elevator core and custom doors is hand-picked from previously harvested pieces.

On the other hand, natural rubber floors were used in classrooms and laboratories,

in five colors ranging from terracotta red to egg yolk, one color per floor,

to define a different personality for each floor and help provide orientation.

Movable modular furniture

The furniture was sourced locally from Brazil and selected to be modular

and mobile to serve a flexible and evolving learning and research programme.

The 3,800 square meter glass roof is designed as three integrated structural domes,

which serve as a lattice covering for an efficient 86m+ vault with minimal steel structural weight.

The roof is designed as an assembly of layers that filter sunlight, reduce heat, and absorb sound.

The outer skylight is made of 1,854 ultra-transparent panes of glass,

covered with triple silver sunscreen to reduce heat gain, and printed with a pattern of clear ceramic dots to shade the sunlight.

 

 

Creating a giant oasis under a domed glass ceiling for the Research and Medical Center

The glass has a minimum reflectivity to avoid annoying external reflections.

As the studio explained, the natural atrium environment was derived from comprehensive computer modeling to balance three balancing factors:

“providing ample daylight for plants to thrive, regulating heat gain and glare for human comfort and providing shading by precisely filtering incandescent sunlight.”

The vaulted ceiling features a custom-printed glazing pattern and sunscreen coating,

and the glass ceiling design was instrumental in guiding the building toward achieving LEED Gold status.

Connected to two wings that form the central atrium, the center’s east wing contains the main teaching spaces,

including teaching spaces for nursing, medicine, graduate programs, medical residency, and technical courses.

The West Wing also houses medical research facilities; including laboratories, clean rooms, and clinical research resources.

 

For more architectural news

 

Reinterpretation of the triangular and rectangular shapes of the Parthenon in the boutique

One thought on “Creating a giant oasis under a domed glass ceiling for the Research and Medical Center

  1. Pingback: India's Silicon Valley opening date announced - ArchUp

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *