New Neonatal Unit, a Studio IMA project | Studio IMA Arquitetura

The Newborn Unit of Holly House of Mercy of Juiz de Fora (MG) presents a conceptual and executive maturity which gathers architecture and health. The 400m2 project was made to receive 28 beds for the babies and two more kangaroo beds, where mothers are able to stay 24 hours with their children and nurture them.

The project main concept was giving higher fluidity to the room, avoiding corners. The walls are curved providing more spatial and visual permeability. From any spot in the room it is possible to visualize the babies, assuring the “little patients” safety.

The Neonatal Unit was designed with three circular cores to accommodate the newborn different stages. Each one with its own independent temperature regulation device. The whole unit has air input and output control, avoiding patients’ contamination.

The first core assists the babies who need to gain weight; in the second core we have the new-born babies with intermediary pathology; and in the third core the babies who need special care.

For higher energy saving, the lighting is provided by a dimmer led bulb over the beds, making it possible to control the light incidence on the babies. The natural passage openings were kept and the nursing team has the option of sealing the light passage with the curtains, or taking advantage of the natural light in behalf of the babies.

As well as the other remodeling projects in hospitals, the whole work was performed with the hospital operating. In order to execute the whole hydraulic work, for example, we had to temporarily close the bedrooms in the floor below, as well as isolated area with drywall. The planning of the project steps is essencial to avoid rework and shutdown of other sectors.

Studio IMA works with the concept of big neutral surfaces, between walls and floor. Basically, we used white and shades of grey. Formerly, all the walls were green, and if the green paint was discontinued or if it was necessary just to perform a small painting repair, the maintenance team found it difficult to do it. The details for work preservation are essential.

We used colors in the details: the hospital panels are in shades of turquoise in one of the cores and in the other in shades of blue. The third core comprises the babies in most severe conditions, and thus we opted by bright and joyful colors: yellow, pink and orange.

We used Corian in all the countertops. It is something interesting, because all the surfaces are smooth, avoiding contaminations and still allowing conceiving the form and the design desired. We were able to make a mold with our drawing in curves, and the pieces were executed exactly like the project.

The color hospital panels – designed by the architect Moema Loures and her team – concentrate the whole gas, electrical and equipment infrastructure, making it easier the maintenance, optimizing and humanizing all the rooms.

The Newborn Unit work is part of a bigger transformation project of Juiz de Fora’s Holly House of Mercy, that is one of the bigger hospital institutions in Minas Gerais. In five years we have already remodeled around 10.000 m2 including units such as Hemodynamic, Endoscopy, Hemodialysis, Coronary Unit, Sterilized Material Central, and 60 new bedrooms.

Take a look other projects designed by Studio IMA:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/129080421@N03/albums

See this post in portuguese:

http://blog.imahd.com.br/post/137688125464/nova-unidade-neonatal-um-projeto-do-studio-ima