The project seeks to maintain the existing building as much as possible, as well as enhancing the value of its inherent construction properties.
The proposal intends to broaden the official proposed conservation plan by committing to preservation international standards, where preservation goes beyond the façade and undertakes virtually the whole building. The idea is to go even further of the maintenance of the existing structure; the project seeks to preserve its ‘essence’. All the new additional construction elements are set up in harmony within the space, being discreet and allowing the prevailing to stand out.
The existing construction operated truly like 3 separate buildings, with no connection within them, and had been abandoned for a few years. Its structural stability was compromised due to a differential subsidence of its foundations. In response to these conditions the project supports the idea to extract the central part of the building; by generating a central patio, the mass of the building is reduced and therefore it controls subsidence differences. By correcting the load of the structure, the new patio can operate as a new central circulation and as a ventilation system, which allows the building to function as an efficient unit.
CH-REURBANO is a mixed-use building in a city where, senseless, this type of buildings is not allowed in many of its areas. Taking advantage of the preexistence of those different uses throughout time, a legal argument was made to maintain the old permit and incorporate them in the current layout. A similar argument allowed us not to provide dozens of parking spaces: a building where cars are not welcomed in a city that is addict of them.
The ground floor is dedicated to commercial spaces that enliven the street, inhabit it, and bring inn security. The first floor is occupied by small format offices, mainly startups and entrepreneurs. The second and third floors are apartments of various sizes and configurations. Finally the roof plan is occupied by an urban orchard.
The project is an exploration of an essential architecture: highlighting what is indispensable and removing what is not necessary. The project seeks for a harmonic relationship between the new and the old.
