2016-2017

Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Hospital (300 beds), University (4 faculties), Auditorium (1500 seats), Staff Housing
GFA 140.000 sqm, $135 millions, 6 storeys max
Design: Mattia Malavenda in collaboration with Consulting Engineering Group
Clients: Yosr Medical Union, Ministry of Health

Located 22 km from the center of Mecca, next to the highway to Jeddah, the Mecca University Hospital (MUH) is a project striving to become a key element of the south-est urban expansion of the city.

The Masterplan of the project is divided in three phases:
1. University, 2. Hospital and 3. Staff housing.   

In addition, an Auditorium (1500 seats) is required for shared academic activities and medical conventions and is previewed a future expansion for the teaching hospital or educational clinic.

At urban and architectural level the project aims is to express a clear, rational and omogeneous composition of mass-volumic elements containing a variety of complex and interconnected functions, such as educational, healthcare and assembly.

The University program is constitute by four faculties:
Medicine, Pharmacy, Medical Sciences and Nursing.

Male and female students must attend separate classroom and recreational spaces and only the discipline laboratories and equipped classrooms can be used by both, at alternate hours.

The hospital, sized for 300 beds, is equipped with ER,  10 operating rooms and a helicopter emergency service with related landing pad on the hospital's roof.

At the ground floor are located the outpatient clinics, physiotherapy, radiology, blood bank laboratories, pharmacies and ER. At the first floor the operating theatre, delivery and c-section, neonatology and pediatric.  At the upper floors are located the rooms and the intensive care unit.

To achieve high levels of indoor environmental quality and largely provide natural light and ventilation, access and visual connection to outdoor spaces, is designed an internal courtyard with a garden to always provide daylighting to the internal public areas of the Hospital, especially corridors.

The fronts of the buildings are rhythmically patterned by vertical dark transparencies and bright slate stone panels, while at the side elevations the dark and light pattern, with the same materials, is horizontally oriented.

This facade composition gives to the architecture a character of classicism and modernism at the same time and a timeless impression.

The hospital is designed with criteria of flexibility, allowing the possibility for future expansions (educational clinics building and increasing of the room number up to 50) and easier reconfiguration of the internal spaces and functions.