PUC Minas's CME | Marcelo Santiago

The PUC Minas’s CME (Sterilized Material project), developed by Horizontes Arquitetura between 2012 and 2015, is an architectural gem located on the Coração Eucarístico Campus of PUC Minas in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The project presented unique challenges that were expertly addressed through innovative design solutions.

Initially, the site was flat and bounded by two buildings that housed the Dentistry College's various activities, including community service, practical training for students, and public treatment facilities. However, the growth in demand for community care led to the saturation of the existing sterilized material center, creating flow conflicts such as traffic of contaminated material in the corridors, circulation of patients in study areas, and blocked access between the second floor of the existing buildings, hindering circulation, especially for people with reduced mobility.

To address these challenges, the project objectives were defined, including the creation of an area for sterilization of instruments used in the Dentistry course and other related courses, a laundry area for sterilization of clothes used in procedures, a reception area to support community care services, and the connection of the two existing buildings.

The ground floor of the Central Sterilized Material project features a reception area where community care is provided, and patients are directed to treatment areas. Public toilets, registration archives, and support areas are also located on the ground floor. The circulation, covered and open to the front square, functions as a living space and connects the ground floor of the existing buildings.

The upper level, accessed by stairs or elevator, contains technical spaces, separated by distinct flows between clean and contaminated materials: receiving, purging, laundry, sterilization, and distribution, as well as deposits and toilets. The circulation connects the second floor of the two existing buildings, ensuring universal accessibility.

The volumetry of the project was resolved as a box supported on a semi-transparent base. The solid volume of the second floor is justified by the needs for privacy and hospital air conditioning. The upper volume is closed by panels and 'torn' by a horizontal window. From the interior, the low windows provide unexpected views, framing the square. The circulation floor, in yellow epoxy, symbolically marks the union between the existing buildings.

At the base, the recessed pillars leave the second floor in balance and the circulation free of visual obstacles. The glass closure and turquoise green walls of the public service area highlight and orient the external public. The ground floor in polished concrete generates continuity with the rustic cement of the external areas. A concrete bench delimits the circulation and the garden. This set of treatments provides an effect of amplitude, causing a sensation of continuity between the square and the ground floor.

The design of the front square and its connection to the interior of the building, transforming circulations into living spaces, repeat the exemplary solution of transition between public and private spaces present in the neocolonial buildings of the Campus. The Central Sterilized Material project presents remarkable architectural solutions and takes advantage of the existing buildings, which serve as a frame to highlight its modern and contemporary design.