Nigerian National Assembly Medical Centre

PROJECT: National Assembly Medical Center and Doctors' Residence in Abuja (NG)

The modest size of the plot, less than 4,000 m2^,combined with the area to be built, strongly conditions the design, forcing a very compact solution, with a volume attached to both side boundaries, respecting only two setbacks on the front to each of the two streets and, covered from the first floor, the passage of emergency vehicles on one side and the vehicle accesses to the basements for supplies and parking on the other side.

This volume, which formally serves as the base of the upper volume, consists of four levels above ground and one below ground, and houses the entire medical-surgical program.

Below the first basement, intended for logistics and facilities uses, the development of one or more more basements is planned, intended for vehicle parking.

On top of this base or plinth volume, a second volume is developed, with a smaller floor plan, which seems to float above it thanks to a floor with recessed fronts, interposed between both volumes and which is intended for air conditioning installations.

This second volume, with a roughly square floor plan, consists of five levels, all of which are intended for the hospitalization of patients.

The total height of the building is therefore ten (10) floors above ground on the facade to Main Road, where a setback of the building of fourteen (14) meters is planned, and five (5) floors to the other road, from which a setback of four (4) meters is projected.

The compact size of the lower volume necessitates the design of two large central courtyards. The northernmost courtyard is enclosed by a curtain wall on floors 1, 2, and 3 and covered by a large skylight at roof level on the third floor. This courtyard, now uncovered, continues into the inpatient wards.

A set of four smaller courtyards, located on the sides of the base volume, guarantee natural light and ventilation to the rest of the functional program of the lower volume.

The double-enclosure solution for the hospitalization volume allows for proper technical functioning, with solar control, architectural solutions, and passive cooling by chimney effect.