2025 - Louis I Kahn Advanced Design Studio
Barcelona, ES
Benedetta Tagliabue & Can Bui, critics
Proposal for a new Kalida (Maggieʼs Center), a type of non-clinical cancer therapy building on the urban fringe of Barcelona. Located on the boundary between the Vall d’Hebron Hospital complex with the Collserola mountains, this project aims to create a building that belongs to the mountains while serving the city. In doing so, we propose a building that serves as a means of transforming the experience of landscape.
Building off the extensive catalog of architectural forms that have evolved in Catalonia as a response to the region’s dramatic topographies, this building is composed of a series of intersecting serpentine masonry barrels. retaining walls and arches that embed it at the edge of a valley torrent. A secondary system of wooden connective members hangs in between, creating screens, walkways and skylights that allow for the circulation of people, light, and air through the plan. The way these softer elements intersect with the vaulted masonry walls create a lexicon of spaces, from large activity rooms, to semi-private reading nooks, to private consultation rooms.