facada

The small town of Illueca lies in a rift valley, flanked by the Sierra de la Virgen and Sierra de la Camamila Mountain Ranges in Zaragoza, Spain. Here architects Luis Franco Lahoz and Mariano Permán Gavín of Permán & Franco Architects’ Studio have built a primary-care health centre with an eye-catching design and ventilated facade by Faveker. 

Site restrictions 

Standing in a new area of the town, Illueca Health Centre provides the wider region with healthcare services. It is built on an almost 1 400m² plot of land featuring a drop of over two metres between the entrance at street level and the land used as a base for the building.  

The building is set back a few metres so that the pavement could be widened and a free-standing canopy could be erected. Although separate from the building, it shelters the entrance and adds to the project’s characteristic look. It is a big, compact volume of four identical floors, with no intermediate columns to allow for future modifications if needed.  

facade

The colour-changing tiles and prefabricated window frames create an eye-catching facade for the health centre.

Designed to stand out 

To achieve this goal, the architects opted for a highly original ventilated facade by Faveker, featuring a combination of flat and volumetric extruded ceramic tiles with an expressive metal-effect finish, evocative of the titanium used to make them. 

The metal-effect finish of the tiles changes in colour, depending on the interplay with light, giving the building a chameleon-like air, which stands out from the rest of the town’s architecture. Prefabricated window frames jut out slightly so that its windows contribute to the facade’s unique composition.  

facade

At the rear of the building, a platform was built as a delivery area and car park.

Façade installation 

The tiles were mounted using a mechanical fixing system, made up of continuous horizontal profiles fixed to vertical ones. Thanks to the horizontal joints, the tiles overlap in a highly versatile system, which protects the air chamber and optimises the weight of the facade.  

Made of extruded porcelain tiles, the building envelope stands out for its high-performance thermal properties – a very important factor, given that this is an area with big variations in temperature. A long-lasting solution is ensured by the tongue-and-grooved design of the tiles, which prevents water from entering the air chamber, avoiding problems with damp. 

Energy efficiency 

The tiled ventilated facade can reduce the building’s energy consumption by 40%. It is also a sustainable solution, given that it is fully recyclable and the tiles contain up to 46% recycled content. The system can also be dismantled, hence complying with circular economy requirements.  

Project name: Illueca Health Centre. 

Location: Zaragoza, Spain. 

Size: 1 400m². 

Architects: Permán & Franco Architects. 

Photographs: Permán & Franco Architects. 

Tiled ventilated facade: Faveker. 

Full acknowledgement and thanks go to https://www.permanyfranco.com/ for the information in this editorial. 

Subscribe to our Community👇

Stay Inspired, Stay Educated, Stay Informed.

This is how people in the built environment do it!

By subscribing you agree to receive our promotional marketing materials. You may unsubscribe at any time. We keep your data private.