Veterinary Hospital, Portugal Architecture, New Portuguese Building Design Images

Veterinary Hospital, Portugal

Warehouse Redevelopment Project design by deMM arquitectura

12 Dec 2012

Location: Porto, Portugal

Design: deMM arquitectura

New Portuguese Vet Hospital – Industrial warehouse Redevelopment

Photos © Pedro Lobo

Veterinary Hospital in Porto

An unusual combination! It is not often you find a vets located in an old warehouse. The exterior looks everyday, but the interior is a surprise. This large dark volume sits inside the existing space, but with a gap around it. Flush panels in the roof allow light into the black box. It is a building within a building, hermetically sealed for cleanliness, working against the typical feel of an old warehouse, namely dust.

Project Description from the architects:

The client intended to create a veterinary hospital within the empty space of an industrial warehouse. As it was a rented space and the owners didn’t want to modify the existing site, a light construction system, easy to build and to remove was required. On the other hand, the legal issues concerning a veterinary hospital demanded total isolation from the existing building, washable and fire-proof surfaces, independent ventilation, and direct access to the street.

photographs : Pedro Lobo

Therefore, our thought was to create a box inside the box, emphasizing the warehouse’s wide interior space, controlled natural lighting and surprising thermic inertia. Besides, the glass and iron ceiling structure gets its own architectural expression, cleansed and participative on the interior space quality.

photographs : Pedro Lobo

The box is made of steel and painted wood, with punctual skylights. There is a patio that decompresses the interior spaces, giving them more light as it triggers new interior/exterior relationship. The box is entirely black, contrasting with its white interior and the warehouse’s original painted walls, integrating a global design concept, that results on a clear approach to hospital environment, integrating comfort and safety.

Veterinary Hospital Porto – Building Information

– Client: CHV
– Program: veterinary hospital
– Project by: dEMM arquitectura
– Design team: Paulo Fernandes Silva, Isabela Almeida Neves, Tiago Soares Lopes
– Contractor: J Camilo Project
– Year of completion: 2012
– Text © dEMM arquitectura

– Photographs © Pedro Lobo

Portuguese Veterinary Hospital images / information from deMM arquitectura

deMM arquitectura

Location: Portugal, southwestern Europe