Architects Sebastián Adamo and Marcelo Faiden have intervened in a house by demolishing its central bay to make way for the creation of a passageway crossed by vegetation, to which the two remaining lateral bays turn, creating a welcoming central space that organises circulation.
The clinic, with a cement and exposed stone floor designed for pets, is clad both towards the front and in its inner courtyard by corrugated sheet metal that allows the materialisation of ventilated façades while homogenising the material history of the building.
Guayaquil Veterinary Clinic by adamo-faiden. Photograph by Javier Agustín Rojas.
Project description by adamo-faiden
The coexistence groups that inhabit the metropolises have diversified, including non-human members with new rights and responsibilities. Pets have promoted the creation of new communities that have an impact not only on the formalization of public space, but also on the buildings dedicated to providing them with services.
Such is the case of the Guayaquil Veterinary Clinic, built from the recycling of an urban house from the beginning of the 20th century. The demolition of its central bay -where the circulatory system was originally located- gave way to the creation of a new semi-covered passage that connects the street with a garden open to the community. A cement floor with exposed stone designed for pets crosses this space where the vegetation and the outside climate are determining elements. The side bays organized on two levels open onto the central passage. On the lower floor they organize the store and the veterinary clinics while on the upper floor they arrange the laboratory, the X-ray room and the operating room.
Both towards the front and towards the back, the existing walls are covered with corrugated sheet metal. This action allows the materialization of ventilated walls and at the same time homogenizes the material history of the building, thus redirecting our attention towards the typological invention that the new communities demand.
