Navarra University Clinic in Madrid by Jesús M° Susperregui Virto, Jorge Martínez Bermejo, Pablo Elorz Gaztelu

The Navarra University Clinic in Madrid represents a forward-thinking approach to contemporary healthcare architecture, combining advanced medical infrastructure with a holistic and patient-first philosophy. Designed by Jesús M° Susperregui Virto, Jorge Martínez Bermejo, and Pablo Elorz Gaztelu, with IDOM leading the architectural development, the project redefines the hospital typology as a place of concentrated expertise, accelerated communication, and restorative spatial quality. Located within Spain’s capital and conceived as a compact, vertical complex, the clinic brings together high-level specialization, teaching, and research within a single cohesive environment.

At the heart of the design lies a central objective: to provide patients with an atmosphere that evokes the comfort and calm of home. This vision guided every spatial and operational decision, ensuring that medical excellence is complemented by humane, uplifting surroundings that facilitate both physical and emotional recovery.

An Efficient, Compact Architecture Organised Around Light and Proximity

The clinic’s configuration is intentionally dense and vertical, optimizing connections between departments while minimizing travel distances for patients, families, and medical staff. The compact footprint achieves an efficient surface-to-volume ratio, enhancing energy performance and construction economy while enabling more direct patient care.

Natural light plays a defining role throughout the structure. A grand central atrium floods the building’s interior with daylight, establishing visibility, orientation, and a sense of openness uncommon in conventional hospital environments. Bridges and walkways span this vertical void, creating immediate visual and physical relationships between the six major care areas: oncology, predictive medicine, women’s and paediatric care, advanced surgery, cardiovascular and traumatology services, and sports medicine. This spatial configuration not only improves functional clarity but also reduces stress for users navigating the building.

Programmatic Clarity and High-Performance Medical Infrastructure

The clinic houses an extensive program tailored to contemporary medical practice. The facility includes 58 inpatient rooms, 7 ICU stations, 7 neonatal ICU units, 3 delivery rooms, 6 operating theatres, 1 hybrid operating theatre, and 4 procedure rooms, supported by 2 linear accelerators for oncology and 65 surgeries covering over 46 medical specialties. In total, 35,000 m² are dedicated to clinical functions, with an additional 11,000 m² for technical services and parking.

These programmatic components are organized with precision to minimize unnecessary transfers, maximize efficiency, and support rapid response. Vertical circulation systems, placed strategically, promote immediate access to critical units and simplify workflows for clinical teams.

A Structural and Spatial Framework Prepared for Future Change

Flexibility is fundamental in any hospital, where technological and procedural advancements demand constant adaptation. The Universidad de Navarra Clinic incorporates a robust structural and spatial infrastructure designed with long-term evolution in mind. Large-span structures allow internal reconfiguration without major construction, while the façade is modulated in varying widths to support potential reprogramming or expansion.

Vertical communication cores and service shafts were deliberately oversized and positioned to accommodate future growth. The architectural strategy even anticipates the outward extension of the complex, ensuring that circulation logic, structural grids, and functional adjacencies can be preserved as new volumes are added.

An Architecture of Well-being, Empathy, and Hospitality

In addition to technical excellence, the project champions an architectural understanding of hospitality: the idea that healing spaces must consider the emotional and psychological experiences of patients and their loved ones. This includes the modulation of daylight, careful acoustic treatment, welcoming public areas, and material choices that soften the clinical environment.

The central atrium, with its openness and warmth, establishes a civic interior where orientation feels intuitive and dignified. Public waiting areas and communal zones are composed with the same attention to comfort as the patient rooms, creating environments that are calm, legible, and humane. Staff experience is treated with equal importance, recognizing that the quality of working conditions directly affects the quality of care.

A Hospital for Today and Tomorrow

Inaugurated in November 2017, the Navarra University Clinic in Madrid stands as a model for the next generation of hospital design—compact, adaptable, technologically advanced, yet deeply centred on the human experience. Through architecture that embraces efficiency without sacrificing empathy, the project demonstrates how healthcare buildings can foster recovery, learning, and innovation simultaneously.

Photography: Aitor Ortiz