Healthcare architecture has long been associated with fortress-like structures that are governed by clinical efficiency and visual austerity, often at the expense of emotional comfort. With harsh lighting, sterile white interiors and labyrinthine corridors, the buildings tend to induce anxiety in an environment which is already a stressful experience for the visitors. However, contemporary architects are increasingly challenging these design norms, reimagining hospitals and care centres as places of respite and sensory engagement. “The organic and intuitive design of the buildings we create reflects our desire to generate welcoming environments that are never perceived as hostile. Because the experience of space is never neutral: it involves and often determines our emotional state,” Swiss architecture practice Davide Macullo Architects tells STIR. Their latest healthcare architecture project prioritises empathy, multispecies comfort and emotional well-being through its spatial design. Situated in a newly developed neighbourhood in the south of Tirana, Albania, the Tirana Vet Hospital has become a landmark with its distinct concrete architecture.

A rhythmic assemblage of straight and curving planes, the hospital exudes a sculptural quality that is not often seen in conventional healthcare projects. “Creating a place that, consciously and intentionally, stands in contrast to common perceptions is, on one hand, a surprising novelty: it amazes, frees creativity and opens up a joyful expansion of thought. On the other hand, it is a provocation that invites us to rethink, in a less rigid way, the very meaning of building and designing,” the Swiss architects add. Although the concrete masses are arranged in a non-uniform, almost abstract manner, they do not disrupt a meditative and spatial cadence that is apparent in the architecture.

Established in 2000, the eponymous Lugano-based practice of architect David Macullo has designed several healthcare projects worldwide, including the Assuta Hospital in Israel and the Rhyboot Rehabilitation Centre in Switzerland. Drawing on decades of experience, the studio has envisioned hospitals as vessels of respite, transforming utilitarian programmes into emotionally attuned environments. At the Assuta Hospital, natural light and spacious common spaces mitigate the visual harshness of clinical environments, while a dialogue between the curvilinear geometry and landscape architecture in the Rhyboot Rehabilitation Centre facilitates a sense of ease and familiarity to the visitors.

For the Tirana Vet Hospital, the architects advocate a critical stance against insular and self-referential spatial traditions of healthcare centres. “The choice to contrast the material heaviness with a fluid and emotional form stems from a subtle yet incisive critique of past architecture. Architecture that, instead of welcoming, often turned inward on itself, creating self-referential, inaccessible spaces that ended up trapping those inside and discouraging those outside from entering,” observes the design team.

By rejecting these conventions, the Tirana Vet Hospital signals a shift towards openness, prioritising empathy and emotional legibility. Inspired by land art, the architects perceive openings and walls as permeable fenestrations and filters, building connections instead of separating the natural from the built environment. Presenting glass as both a building material and a symbolic device, the design invites users to reflect on the relationship between the ‘artificial and natural space,’ as per the architects.

The concrete architecture uses openings and skylights throughout the interiors for perceptual depth and clarity for ease of navigation and a deeper emotional reading of the context. “Navigating a place activates an ongoing decision-making process that, if experienced with confusion, frustration, or fear, can generate anxiety and disorientation,” the architects tell STIR. According to them, the orientation of spaces engages several areas of the brain that are responsible for processing emotions, including the limbic system, the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala.

The spaces are segregated across four levels, with a gross area of 2,300 sq m. Upon entering the building from the north, the visitors are greeted at the reception, which identifies a large open hall. On its either sides lie separate waiting areas for dogs and cats, the spaces framing views of the outdoors to gently acclimatise the animals to a new environment. The spatial articulation counters the primal fear of being trapped, encouraging user comfort. “The dialectical contrast between rigidity and softness gives rise to surfaces that cut through the air without interrupting the rhythm that defines the forms, harmoniously composing enclosed and open spaces, walls and terraces,” the architects relay. The practice places a particular emphasis on the feeling of “openness” in the design scheme, stimulating a positive response among the users.

The ground floor accommodates an operating room, a laboratory, several consultation rooms, kennels and isolation areas, all connected by linear corridors that also facilitate further sub-sections within the footprint. The first floor features a secondary entrance on the southwest to ensure easy access for the staff. Workspace, hospitality and recreational rooms span the level, including care units, a terrace, a cat hotel, a grooming area and a generous winter garden for cats. The second and third floors comprise terraces, a cafe and a conference room, offering panoramic views of the Green Valley residential complex.

By challenging conventional healthcare typologies through a distinctive visual and spatial language, Davide Macullo Architects frames veterinary care as an emotionally resonating experience. Softening even the most utilitarian of programmes through empathy-led design strategies, the Tirana Vet Hospital reveals how architecture can be both functional and considerate towards a multiplicity of users.

Previously published on STIR, the Staten Island Animal Care Centre by Garrison Architects is another example of a sensitive healthcare architecture, which abandons the warehouse-like layouts and volumes to provide better living and care conditions for the animals. Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP’s project Care House of the Wind Chimneys for seriously-ill children in Japan also prioritises establishing stronger connections with nature, using natural light and wind to provide a sense of calm and comfort. By subverting expectations around conceiving clinical spaces that are often synonymous with anxiety and trauma, the hospital designs embody their purpose into their very built fabric.

Project Details

Name: Tirana Vet Hospital
Location: Tirana, Albania
Architect: Davide Macullo Architects
Site area: 2,046 sq m
Gross floor area: 2,243 sq m
Year of Completion: 2024