When Catalan architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner designed Barcelona’s Hospital de Sant Pau in the early 1900s, he heeded emerging ideas about health care and hygiene—as well as his own belief that exposure to beauty could help patients heal. The hospital complex, built between 1901 and 1930 in the Spanish version of Art Nouveau known as Catalan modernism, consisted of fantastically decorated brick buildings, including freestanding patient pavilions surrounded by gardens and connected via underground passages. Domènech used structural steel for framing to achieve lofty vaulted spaces that welcomed sunlight and fresh air. Curved surfaces covered in ceramic tiles minimized places where germs could hide; floral ornamentation enlivened the scheme, while a sunrise-to-sky gradient soothed the eye.
The hospital's exterior is equally ebuillent.
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Elaborate tilework covers a domed ceiling.
PIC Femke Ketelaar/ShutterstockDomènech, who died in 1923, has long been overshadowed by architect Antoni Gaudí, a student of his, but is widely regarded as the father of Catalan modernism and in recent years has come into recognition: UNESCO designated the 40-acre hospital complex a World Heritage site in 1997. The hospital remained in use until 2009 when a new facility with up-to-date medical equipment opened nearby.
Fortunately, the old hospital campus, overseen by a foundation, has been given a new lease on life. The buildings were restored and energy- and water-saving measures implemented. Some spaces have been repurposed as event venues—models walk the runway here during Barcelona’s annual Fashion Week—and others have become offices for organizations working in humanitarian, health care and sustainability fields. Today, visitors can tour the site and learn about the hospital’s history as well as the importance of Catalan modernism and the role Domènech played advancing it.
THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN VOLUME 17 OF FREDERIC MAGAZINE. CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE!