☉ Kálida Sant Pau Centre is a proposal by Miralles Tagliabue for Kálida Foundation and Fundació Privada de l’Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in 2008. It is located in Barcelona Spain in a park setting. Its scale is small with a surface of 400 sqm. Key material is brick. Play-Time collaborated as visualizer.
Designed to enhance the wellbeing of people affected by cancer, Kálida Sant Pau will create a caring and calm environment where anyone can access support through a programme designed to complement the conventional cancer treatments of the hospital. Sponsored by the Kálida Foundation, the centre is a transformative project that began in 2008 and is scheduled to open during the first quarter of 2018. It is anticipated that by its third year of operation, over 15,000 people per year will benefit from these services.
Adjacent to the Oncology Department
Kálida Sant Pau will be located adjacent to, but separate from, the Oncology Department, to allow easy access from the Hospital for patients and their families and friends. A team of experienced professionals will be on hand to help you with information and advice – nurses, psychologists, social workers and therapists, without the need to make an appointment or to be referred.
Kálida is open to anyone with cancer, whether or not a patient of Sant Pau, or a relative or friend and has a clear focus on the needs of each individual. Once inside, you can relax in the calm atmosphere, or talk and share emotions with people who understand what you are going through or simply be alone with your thoughts. If you are looking for specific answers to some of the many questions that you may have, the team of professionals at the centre can assist with information, advice and guide you towards the different elements of the programme that best serve your needs. The programme of support offered at the centre is approved by hospital medical professionals.
Understanding and support in a unique building space
When a person is diagnosed with a cancer, it can feel like a punch in the stomach. Often there are tough questions to face, uncertainty of what will happen in the future, difficult emotions to cope with from anxiety to loneliness and feelings of fragility, uneasiness and fear. Kálida will be there to help and support you, a warm and welcoming place that is a refuge from the stress of the Hospital offering a programme of evidence based support which strengthens physical and emotional wellbeing.
Kálida will be warm and welcoming, full of light and space with a mix of open areas and more private protected areas. The emphasis is on creating a homely, domestic environment in contrast to the clinical hospital building. The architect, who supported her husband Enric Miralles through his brain tumour diagnosis and treatment clearly is well placed to understand the curative value of well-designed buildings.
The design is of a garden pavilion in which the boundaries between interior and exterior space are blurred. Kálida will be on a site positioned between Hospital Sant Pau and the modernista Heritage site. The 400m2 building is arranged on two levels with an extensive garden area. The lower floor will be an open and flexible space, conceived as a sequence of gardens and patios. The kitchen area is the welcoming heart of the building, in addition there is a library and a large multipurpose room. From the Oncology Department of the Hospital, there will be a paved area leading to the main entrance of Kálida.
A project that is growing with everyone’s help
Over the years, the contribution and involvement of many small and large donors has been fundamental to getting the project started and to arrive at this point. This collectively motivated group have been inspired to improve the lives of thousands of people with cancer. They have been joined by medical professionals, private foundations, institutions and corporates who have given their unconditional support to enable the creation of the first Kálida centre in Barcelona.