(Building selected in the 100 pre- finalists of the XI Biennial Spanish Architecture 2010)

Between the historical responsibility and the new ways of living.

Residential building in "Barri dels Velluters", very degraded historic district, however, attractive and possible. It is an initiative of private nature that is added to a series of public proposals (social housing, equipment) intended for the recuperation of the urban center. The project assumes responsibility of the surroundings and responds to the problems of the current dwelling. A program of 19 minimum units, between 30 and 50 m2, the ground floor is intended for people with reduced mobility.

The homes go beyond their condition of small dimensions: they are designed with a minimum of partitions, it is done without circulation space in favor of living spaces and the relationship with the exterior is intensified. The window wells that work in pairs are released from the interior layout of the houses. On the ground floor, the units adapted for people with reduced mobility rework their direct relationship with the environment by altering their altimetry with regard to the street.

The assimilation and perversion of the municipal ordinances become key drivers of the project process. The required tripartite composition is separated from the altimetric distribution of the floors of the building, the base rises up to half of the first floor openings to dignify the ground floor. The vertical overlap of the gaps that the ordinances establish is reinterpreted by the continuity of the axis around which the openings of one dimension and of twice that dimension alternately oscillate. The top of the cornice disappears around the corner generating different conditions in both streets. It also reverses the proportion of gap- solid traditional of the facade plane to respond to a new home of limited dimensions with quality in natural lighting. The work of rhythm and variation introduced in the facade plane facilitates a continuous perception of its surface, a "texture" that accompanies the streets Viana and Torno de l'Hospital.

Material Used :

1. Technal - Windows - FX65 aluminium window system

2. Weber - Facade coating - Weberpral