Santa Casa de Misericórdia in Porto Alegre is a hospital complex composed of several buildings, some of which are historic. Within this ensemble lies the street “Rua da Saúde,” which gave its name to the roof structure. Due to the organically grown layout, there was previously no connection between the individual buildings. The client’s goal was to create a unifying element that harmoniously spans the buildings and forms a distinctive covered outdoor space.
The new glass roof not only provides weather protection but also offers users an attractive place to stay with diverse qualities. Its freeform design integrates seamlessly into the existing architecture. The supporting structure consists of a slender steel framework with a glass covering. A triangular mesh was chosen as the layout for the grid shell.
The roof rests on a total of 14 support points, with horizontal loads primarily carried by the support points of the impluvium as well as the M- and V-shaped columns. Comprehensive geometric and structural optimization during the design process resulted in this slender and unique structure. The grid shell is composed of triangular meshes made from circular profiles, connected at the nodes by steel head plates. The columns are also made of tubular profiles. Intensive geometric and structural optimization during planning enabled the development of this extremely slender structure.
