The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the need to strengthen healthcare support systems for elderly people, individuals with functional diversity, and patients with mental health conditions, within a healthcare environment focused on person-centred care.
The coordination between the Departments of Health and Social Welfare of the Generalitat de Catalunya, responsible for healthcare and elderly care services, responded to this need by promoting a reserve of care facilities in the form of an Intermediate Integrated Care Centre (CAIIB). Located in the city of Barcelona, the centre is intended for patients with multiple pathologies who also require support from public social and healthcare institutions. Its aim is to provide specialised care in the most appropriate environment, avoiding transfers between different facilities and unnecessary exposure to aggressive healthcare settings that may negatively affect patients’ physical, cognitive, and emotional wellbeing.
The benefits for the healthcare network are evident, as the centre contributes to reducing pressure on emergency departments and acute hospitalisation services while preventing unnecessary admissions. In addition, this new facility provides the capacity to respond to healthcare emergencies within the city’s residential care system.
Both the architectural structure of the building and its geographical location within a healthcare environment adjacent to the Vall d’Hebron Hospital complex provide the centre with a high degree of functional capacity, enabling it to respond to highly complex healthcare and social situations. Furthermore, the building’s design allows for the creation of two independent units on each floor that can operate as isolation areas. In the event of a pandemic, the building can therefore be sectorised without affecting the full operation of each isolated unit, thanks to the duplication of vertical circulation cores, circulation systems without duplicating corridors, and independent technical installations, particularly climate control and ventilation systems.
The building accommodates a total of 120 beds, with the flexibility to increase capacity to 144 beds in the event of a medical emergency or temporary saturation of social services. Patient rooms are distributed across four floors, each containing 21 rooms arranged as follows: 9 double rooms located on the right wing and 12 single rooms on the left wing. Several of the single rooms are designed to be convertible and, in emergency situations, can accommodate two patients with all necessary services. At the intersection of both wings are the support facilities, including the nursing station, family consultation room, staff rest areas, linen rooms, cleaning facilities, and related service spaces. The building also includes a semi-basement floor dedicated to rehabilitation, administrative, and logistics areas.
Although many patients will remain bedridden and therefore have limited opportunities for social activity, communal and relational spaces were incorporated to facilitate contact with family and friends, which plays a significant role in the stability of patients with mental health or behavioural disorders. These spaces also support patients in their gradual transition back to their usual residential environments as they recover.
The design of the patient rooms was developed following an in-depth study focused specifically on the profile of the centre’s users, whose level of dependency resulting from mental health and behavioural disorders requires specialised attention.
Based on the principles of Person-Centred Care and Evidence-Based Design, the project ensures that patients in double rooms enjoy the same level of comfort as those in single rooms. This was achieved by replacing the traditional parallel bed arrangement with a new configuration featuring facing beds.
As a result, the spatial quality experienced by each patient is significantly improved. Equality is achieved not only between occupants sharing a room, but also between double and single room users, as both occupants benefit equally from access to natural light, exterior views, vegetation, and their own desk-bench area. In addition, a movable partition has been incorporated to prevent direct views between occupants and to increase privacy.
