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[health is basic] > intro | project | materials | 

IN THE AMBASZ'S ARK
project by Emilio Ambasz & Associates
photo by Alessandro Paderni, EYE-Studio
text by Francesca Zani

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MATERIALS  The choice of materials is always a fundamental stage in the design, even more so in a project such as this, where floors and coverings are subject to heavy traffic. Surfaces that are resistant to wear and tear are therefore the order of the day, but they also need to be easy to clean and resistant to the chemicals used during the sterilization process. Ceramic tiling won the day, meeting all the essential criteria and opening up a whole world of formats, colours and finishes for the designers to choose from.
The interior of the Mestre hospital contains areas put to a variety of different uses, creating the need for a number of practical solutions, aesthetics included.  It was precisely this that prompted the designers to turn to such a big name in the Italian tile industry as Marazzi: one single business partner to deal with for all the supplies, and one capable of satisfying the most detailed requirements.
That is exactly how it panned out: throughout the hospital, save for the kitchens, where clinker was used, porcelain stoneware takes centre stage. Used for the floors in the vast atrium and the corridors, the shops and offices, the common areas and bathrooms, the car parks, the staircases and the internal and external terraces, Marazzi stoneware rightfully takes its place alongside glass, steel and Nature’s green as one the basic aesthetic elements of the whole design.
As further testimony to its extreme versatility, it has also been used for technical reasons to cover floating floors and in the laboratories, and for the ventilated façades on the ground and first floor.
Iron, Gm, Stone Teck and Fusion are just a few of the very many Marazzi collections chosen by the designers. It is disappointing to find that, of these, only the Fusion range has Ecolabel certification. Had more interest been shown in the products in the Marazzi catalogue that are unmistakably eco-friendly, perhaps the final choice would have been more in line with the overall approach to the project. Admittedly though, it has to be said that the choice of a company such as Marazzi, one that has long been sensitive to environmental issues at all stages of production, goes some way to providing a guarantee. In 2005, Marazzi obtained EMAS certification (the EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme ) for its plant in Fiorano, near Modena in the north of Italy.