Luz Integraded Health Complex : A Benchmark for Hospital Architecture

Text in English & Portuguese. The Luz Integrated Health Complex, comprising the Hospital da Luz and the Casas da Cidade (Senior Residences), is situated in the Luz neighbourhood, to the north of Lisbon. Designed by the Lisbon-based architectural firm RISCO, it is seen as a benchmark for state-of-the-art developments in hospital architecture. In her text Catherine Slessor describes it as follows: "This project is striking on many levels, but most notably in the way that it rationalises, dignifies and humanises a large and complex healthcare programme. Perhaps the best and most paradoxical epithet that any critic can offer is that the Hospital da Luz doesn''t particularly look or feel like a hospital. Rather, the architecture reconceptualises the notion what that might be, and then skilfully socialises this notion so that it becomes a built and experiential reality. And in doing so, another subtle shift is applied to the evolving continuum of the hospital as one of the modern era''s most fundamental yet elusive building types." There are further contributions by Luís Santiago Baptista and Axel Hinrich Murken who provides a comprehensive overview of the history of hospital architecture. In addition to the large selection of plans and images there are various texts by architects and engineers who were involved in the construction.