UCA Teaching Hospital

Arch. Sergio Ruggeri

2017-2019

Finished Project

Personal contributions to the Project

Design - 15%

Plans - 40%

Sections - 100%

Ambient details - 30%

Construction details - 15%

Research of technical requirements - 15%

IMPLANTATION ON TERRAIN

This project is a high complexity hospital with 50,000m2 of built area, located within the framework of an educational complex of the Catholic University, where the following would be implemented:

A - Faculty of Medicine (already built)

B - University Hospital (developed project)

C - Nursing block (future development) tension created between buildings leaves a public open space for students and hospital staff or visitors.

The campus is located in a highly urbanized area, and because of its complexity, the project required not only the solution of the building itself, but also to foresee the impact it would have on urban traffic flows and the appropriate solutions.

During my 2 years of participation in the project, we were able to clearly define the general design of the building, develop and adjust with precision all the technical spaces through constant consultations of technical and functional requirements, consultancies with suppliers of hospital machinery and experts in hospital buildings at regional level.

In the final stages of the development, I was personally responsible for all sections, floor plans of the south tower, details of various rooms and some construction details, as well as getting the project approved by the Ministry of Public Health.

The created the leaves open the hospital visitors.

The hospital building is clearly divided into functional blocks.

- On the lower levels (in direct contact with the street and the plaza in between) are the outpatient programs, such as the emergency and diagnostic room.

- The north tower contains the inpatient rooms,

- The curved south tower houses the more complex and specialized procedure programs, such as operating rooms and ICUs, among others.

The whole campus complex is treated not as a unitary and enclosed entity, but as a permeable piece of the urban fabric in which it is implanted. Access can be found on multiple angles and levels with a functional approach, fundamental for a project of this nature.

Personal contributions to the Project

Research - 65%

Maps - 50%

Redaction - 100%

Structure definition - 50%

Calculations - 50%

Axonometries - 0%

Renders - 0%

Other graphics - 30%

Context of location:

1. Guaraní Aquifer - South America

2. Location - Paraguay

3. Location - Context of the Patiño Aquifer Area

4. Mburicao WatershedArea of Asunción

5. The middle watershed of the Mburicao River

6. Maximum recorded precipitationAsunción, 2017

7. Maximum recorded precipitation - Area of Study, 2017

8. Average precipitation events Calendar w/ amount of days and mm

9. Correlation between temperatures and average rainfall perceived per month

Asunción is the capital city of Paraguay. With about 2 million people moving through its streets every day, frequent urban floods put 30% of the country’s population at risk, causing economic losses, health hazards, and even threats to human life.

This research first studies the causes and impacts of urban flooding within an area relevant to the study topic, the Mburicao stream’s urban basin, one of the most severe flooding points in the city.

To get a diagnostic, we carried out the analysis of many characteristics of the site, including the stream profile, the surface of its watershed, the impact of urbanization on the watershed, and the extreme precipitation events predictable for the region through the use of GIS data analysis, consultation with experts, and statistical data analysis.

After getting a better understanding of the natural function of the Mburicao watershed and the impact the urban fabric has had on it, we created a set of Urban Planning Guidelines to reconcile the natural ecosystem with the necessities of urban life.

Each Guideline is focused on different areas that need to be worked on:

1. Fluvial-Urban Ecosystem

2. Sustainable Mobility Infrastructure

3. Public Space

4. Infrastructure for urban water management and each one comprises layers of Strategies and their corresponding suggested actions, which together would restore the river canal’s capacity to absorb the runoffs, reduce the impact of storm events, improve quality of life, and use resources more efficiently.

GUIDELINE 1 - Fluvial-Urban Ecosystem

Urban streams are a natural and highly effective infrastructure that provide environmental, social and economic services for urbanization, including a high capacity for rainwater drainage, thanks to the conformation of their watersheds.

This research recognizes the need to provide them with certain conditions for their conservation and correct continuous functioning over time, seeking a kind of symbiosis in which natural resources constitute an ally for the optimal functioning of the city.

River enviroment recovery

River enviroment protection

GUIDELINE 2 - Sustainable Movility Infraestructure

A substantial part of the problem of pluvial drainage in urbanization consists of the extended impermeabilization of its territory. This can be seen mainly in the use of impermeable materials in fast and medium traffic streets, and its progressive increase as the lack of quality public transport and the lack of offers of non-motorized means of transport promotes the preference for private cars.

A sustainable mobility plan would not only provide more permeable land but would also bring many other urban benefits to the quality of life of its inhabitants.

GUIDELINE 3 - Public Space

Public spaces play a key environmental role and are places for meeting and interaction, important for the quality of life, social integration, and citizenship building, areas in which the city of Asunción is sorely lacking. Ensuring that all citizens have access to green spaces within walking distance from any location is fundamental to health, as well as the environmental and landscape regeneration of urban ecosystems.

Therefore, we propose the creation of more green spaces based on even geographical distribution, as well as the regeneration of available public spaces that do not meet the requirements to be used as such.