Paraguay’s Teletón association collects funds to sustain a broad welfare programme for young children, ranging from efforts to avert abandonment and provision of healthcare to physical and social rehabilitation as carried out in this Children’s Rehabilitation Centre.
The structure comprises several buildings dedicated to the various aspects of rehabilitation and assistance. The project’s overarching sustainability goal entailed the widespread use of locally sourced products along with composite elements made from recycled materials. This combines with an architectural programme comprising different architectural structures providing a range of facilities for the different rehabilitation needs of its inmates: swimming pools, physical exercise, and not least children’s play areas.
The hallmarks of the architectural programme are colour and recycled materials. The Centre is a medley of environments under recycled-brick vaults (housing the rehabilitation swimming pools), long barrel-vaulted tunnel constructions in recycled brick that rise directly from the ground and set at oblique angles to the other elements, fair-face concrete walls, thin concrete columns and thick load-bearing pillars. Similarly, plastered walls are juxtaposed to mixed floor slabs and unconcealed beams.
The rich medley of colour on wall sections and equipment breaks up space into a series of interesting environments, creating a pleasant, user-friendly atmosphere. Artistic wall motifs made from recycled ceramics underline the visual focus of the whole programme. This is further enhanced by the ubiquitous presence of natural light thanks to the facility’s characteristic permeability to light and the open air.
Outside, sections of lawn, flower beds, natural vegetation and pathways are sheltered by huge pergolas - brick lattice constructions, their triangular patterns providing welcome shade. The outer walls of the swimming pool pavilion form...
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