Felicidad Sy Multi-Specialty Building

The Philippine General Hospital (PGH) is the premiere public health facility in the country serving more than 600,000 patients annually. As a government institution adjunct to the University of the Philippines, it employs and trains some of the best healthcare professionals in the country all capable in handling the most complex cases. As such, the Philippine General Hospital acts as the “last resort” facility for the country’s public health system. Given the importance of the medical institution, the dated infrastructure is no longer capable of handling the ever-increasing influx of patients, the advancement in medical technologies, and the constant change in healthcare architecture. Thus, the Felicidad Sy Multi-Specialty Building (MSB) is the first solution for the infrastructure modernization of PGH. Comprised of 15 floors, the Felicidad Sy Multi-Specialty Building (MSB) is geared towards the medical specializations of Neurology, Orthopedics, Dermatology, Oncology, and Psychiatry. To support these medical specializations, the Felicidad Sy Multi-Specialty Building (MSB) has its own Operating Room Complex, a Diagnostic Laboratory, a dedicated Radiology Department, Intensive Care Units, Ward Nursing Units, and Private Room Nursing Units. True to PGH’s ethos of education, the architecture also integrates spaces dedicated to instruction such as the seminar halls, conferencing spaces, and a 200-seater lecture theater all of which are adjacent to publicly accessible garden decks. With PGH serving mostly charitable cases, Patient Privacy, Patient Experience, and Wayfinding were key drivers to the project most evident in the Outpatient Diagnostic and Examination spaces. With the architecture and healthcare planning solutions provided, the Felicidad Sy Multi-Specialty Building (MSB) redefines the standard of PGH’s infrastructure capacity and service capabilities. The Philippine General Hospital campus, having several structures declared as National Cultural Heritage buildings, was developed in the Neoclassical style interlaced with Spanish Mission Revival characteristics. Given this and wanting to expound on the inherent Sense of Place, the Felicidad Sy Multi-Specialty Building (MSB) seeks to translate the language in its own dialect. As now the tallest building on campus, the translation of the architectural language of the campus takes new form furthered by the integration key Filipino Regionalism architectural features like the solid heavy base and cantilevered bay windows ever present in the historical Filipino “Bahay na Bato” (house of stone) homes. These cantilevered bays, integrated into the Nursing Wards to add functional area and natural light, house the “Ventanillia” windows which funnel air into the interiors. Concurrently, the patchwork of fenestration reflects the surrounding architecture of the campus - all of which are tied together by details and trims that are inherently neoclassical expressed in contemporary geometry. As we strive to envelope functional programs with high aesthetic value and given the weight of this project, the Felicidad Sy Multi-Specialty Building (MSB) attempts to do so with the greatest respect to the end-users, the context of the campus, and the goals set by the program in the hopes that this will be a great leap forward in providing effective healing spaces and greatly increasing the standard of public healthcare for the Filipino people.