SCHOOL OF MEDICINE IN CRETE

HERAKLION, CRETE, GREECE

The design of the School of Medicine was based on a central nucleus branching off into wide access corridors leading to a number of “wings”, each dedicated to a specific function. This has also made possible optimum natural lighting conditions wherever necessary. The relatively steep, but always uniform, downward slope of the site has been exploited to determine the number of floors of each wing.

The principal teaching etc halls are the 310-seat and two 110-seat amphitheatres. Various lecture and seminar rooms complement the teaching facilities. While the administration areas are not very extensive, a significant number of laboratories of various types constitute the nucleus of the organisational set-up of the School of Medicine.

The uniformity of the School’s architecture has been further enhanced by the universal use of white on all the façades of all the buildings. Also by the fact that the building heights of the several “wings” are similar, and hence there are no markedly protruding vertical elements.

Despite its large footprint, the breaking-up of the volumes coupled with the terracing of the “descending” site, belie the overall size of the School, thus blending into the surrounding Cretan landscape in a softer way.