MEDICINA Lyon (France) - 2019

Contexte & enjeux

Médicina is a multi-disciplinary health company bringing together a hundred or so medical and paramedical practitioners, a balneotherapy centre, a coaching centre, a micro-crèche, a snack bar and an X-ray centre. The objective of the programme is to offer a pooling of internal services to facilitate the installation of young doctors and to encourage exchange, research and interdisciplinarity.

The Médicina plot is located at the heart of the Biopark, a high-tech biomedical park initiated by SERL.

The shape of the building is derived from the programme and the site, creating a thick base on the ground floor that houses the balneotherapy. A thinner rectangular volume houses the 4 levels of consultations. Only the shorter R+5 stands out, thus drawing the template recommended by SERL.

The architectural approach is both to distinguish from the outside the multidisciplinary nature of the programme and to identify the building as a health establishment receiving the public. The volumetry is designed with a view to simplicity in accordance with the primary function of the establishment, which must be both welcoming and reassuring for the patient. The horizontal lines created by the volume are broken by the verticality of the joinery, which gives the building a more human and less tertiary scale. The north-east corner, in a curtain wall, marks the entrance to the building from the forecourt.

The building envelope is simple and homogeneous in keeping with the Médicina programme. The ground floor is clad in grey metal panels with a textured zinc appearance, while the rest of the building is clad in matt white metal panels. Punctual elements of brushed aluminium-look metal panels punctuate the facades of the upper floors and bring a dynamism between matte and shiny.