Where medicine is representative of the human desire to defy entropy, Marvila Sanatorium is an architecture exploring ways of slowing/quickening our perception of time and cheating the inevitable tendency of returning to dust.
The proposal cheats entropy by inverting this natural process of ‘returning to dust’. Starting as a public space installation designed to aerodynamically ‘tune’ the site, the sanatorium is formed of eroded sand from the top of an old quarry site in Marvila, Lisbon. Over long periods of time, sandstone encrusts sap-coated leather membranes, creating ‘spatial medicines’ that form the ‘organs’ of the sanatorium. The project addresses the anxiety of memory deterioration in the town’s elderly, due both to the gentrification/destruction of place and the decline of their physical health.
The proposal cheats entropy by inverting this natural process of ‘returning to dust’. Starting as a public space installation designed to aerodynamically ‘tune’ the site, the sanatorium is formed of eroded sand from the top of an old quarry site in Marvila, Lisbon. Over long periods of time, sandstone encrusts sap-coated leather membranes, creating ‘spatial medicines’ that form the ‘organs’ of the sanatorium. The project addresses the anxiety of memory deterioration in the town’s elderly, due both to the gentrification/destruction of place and the decline of their physical health.
Final Year 3 Project
Unit G: Toby Smith, Justin Chapman, Mike Halliwell
Site Location: Marvila, Chelas District, Lisbon
Date: January - May 2019
Unit G: Toby Smith, Justin Chapman, Mike Halliwell
Site Location: Marvila, Chelas District, Lisbon
Date: January - May 2019
Inverting Entropy
Sand/dirt encrusts sap coated leather skins that enclose the organs of the sanatorium.
Through the careful tuning of site forces, dirt and ditritus are made to order themselves into an architecture.
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Through the careful tuning of site forces, dirt and ditritus are made to order themselves into an architecture.
Going Against the Grain
(Section)
Leather ‘organs’ cling to a steel superstructure. Spaces are designed as ‘spatial medicines’,
each an alchemical attempt to extend life through the transmutation of matter.
Each is a micro-narrative looking to emulate the effect of a certain medication taken by the elderly.
(Section)
Leather ‘organs’ cling to a steel superstructure. Spaces are designed as ‘spatial medicines’,
each an alchemical attempt to extend life through the transmutation of matter.
Each is a micro-narrative looking to emulate the effect of a certain medication taken by the elderly.
(Ground Plan, Bottom Left)
A dance hall, where the ‘vira do minho’ takes place around mounds of fallen sand/ditritus, supporting a tensile roof whic sets the pace of the dance - based on the running of commuters up and down the site’s public stairway [attempt to relieve dementia, bring back memories].
(First Floor Plan, Top Right)
A communal living room centered around the mindful observation of falling sand/dirt, which forms the pillars below. [attempt to lower blood pressure with mindfulness]
A dance hall, where the ‘vira do minho’ takes place around mounds of fallen sand/ditritus, supporting a tensile roof whic sets the pace of the dance - based on the running of commuters up and down the site’s public stairway [attempt to relieve dementia, bring back memories].
(First Floor Plan, Top Right)
A communal living room centered around the mindful observation of falling sand/dirt, which forms the pillars below. [attempt to lower blood pressure with mindfulness]
(Second Floor Plan, Bottom Right)
The sanatorium’s dining room, where residents share a meal surrounded by brightly glowing skins rippling in the sun. [attempt to reduce pain via serotonin]
(Third Floor Plan, Top Left)
A public space lies between the eroded and the deposited. Residents emerge from dark, sheltered bedroom spaces into the bright sun and strong wind [Placebo effect]. From the cold air to submersion in hot water, temperature contrasts ease achey joints [an anti-inflammatory process].
The sanatorium’s dining room, where residents share a meal surrounded by brightly glowing skins rippling in the sun. [attempt to reduce pain via serotonin]
(Third Floor Plan, Top Left)
A public space lies between the eroded and the deposited. Residents emerge from dark, sheltered bedroom spaces into the bright sun and strong wind [Placebo effect]. From the cold air to submersion in hot water, temperature contrasts ease achey joints [an anti-inflammatory process].
Bedroom Spaces
Bedroom space showing how sand/dirt encrusts leather membranes, which soften over time with wear.
Heated using their own small boilers, a warm tea is provided to further the contrast when they emerge outside.
