05/23/2020
The Goldberg's Hospital |Bertrand Goldberg is mainly known for his iconic Marina City complex in Chicago. However his work in health-care architecture is often overlooked. What Goldberg explored in his 8 total health-care projects was the relationship of patients and healthcare workers. The Cloverleaf plan is a ubiquitious element in all of Goldberg's design. The unusual geometry was not just a design element but the result of immense research that Goldberg conducted for these projects. With the help of anthropologist Edward T. Hall, Goldberg aimed to create a more intimate and integrated space, by organizing clusters of patient rooms around a central nursing station.
However it is the same intricate geometry that led to the decandence of Golberg's designs.
Cloverleaf plans resulted unable to accomodate modern equipment and growing patients' needs; moreover the radical geometry proved hard to expand on or adapt, leaving Goldberg's architecture as a relic in the skyline.
Nevertheless Goldberg's extensive study of harmonic spaces should not be takeen for granted. He was able to design spaces that would provide patience with immediate and intimate care while creating very powerful architecture.
He applied the principles he learned at the Bauhaus as a graphic design student and applied it to utalitarian spaces like hospitals. St Joseph Medical Center is the testament of Goldberg. Sitting on top of a hill in the middle of Tacoma WA.
The building is as interesting as it is imposing. Four intersecting octograms with rounded points are extruded up; The fluidity of concrete expressed in this volume is mesmerizing. The volume lifted by multiple thin columns make the building look like a ship landed there.
This is a non-compromising building, as most brutalist buildings are. However this particular BRUT, the umcompromising design comes from a place of understanding the purpose of the building, and creating a positive experience for the users and the people who work there. @ St. Joseph Medical Center
