Lecture Halls, College of Physicians, Valencia

Any space used as a conference hall requires the appropriate technological, functional and aesthetic conditions in order to operate correctly. The teaching and training activities held in such rooms will have a greater impact if the space is comfortable, spacious and well lit, with good acoustics.

The Barcia Goyanes and Severo Ochoa rooms at the College of Physicians in Valencia required complete renovation to adapt the layout, materials and technology and to update the furniture. The College Board set us a motivating challenge: to create a contemporary, tranquil and attractive image for the new space, limiting the use of economic and material resources as far as possible.

The project aimed to merge the two rooms into one, creating an open-plan space with an area of 255 m² and capacity for 130 people. This single room was designed as a multi-purpose space, which could be divided via a mobile partition (with soundproofing of 40 dbA) to provide two independent rooms if required, with capacity for 80 and 30 people respectively. One of the main parts of the intervention and the largest-scale operation was the removal of the false ceiling which initially extended down over the beams and made the room seem cramped and small.

The renovation project was also informed by the need for good acoustics in the hall. This led to the careful selection of materials used for both the vertical envelope (sound-absorbing panels made from flame-retardant MDF board on battens) and the horizontal configuration (vinyl flooring, false ceilings combining smooth plasterboard, microperforated sheet trays in lacquered aluminium and rock wool panels with black veil on the upper part).

For the lighting, we proposed a comprehensive LED system. LED technology reduces consumption and maintenance costs and is highly versatile, allowing the room to be adapted for events as varied as film screenings, round table discussions, debates and conferences.