Jaén stands at the foot of Santa Catalina hill, with steep streets and pronounced slopes that define its urban layout, widening towards the flatter and more spacious areas of the new neighborhoods and boulevards, where our plot is located.
The surroundings are the result of a contemporary expansion on a regular grid of wide orthogonal roads and six-story buildings. Federico Mayor Zaragoza Street, on the southern edge of the site, runs along the old railway line, which, at its junction with Dr. Eduardo García-Triviño Street, follows the circular profile of the perimeter defense wall of the Eneolithic village of Marroquíes Bajos (2800-2000 BCE).
The remains found correspond to a section of wall and moat belonging to the fifth concentric ring of protection around the macro-village. Respect for the remains of our past through their protection, enhancement, and integration into the city makes them an important cultural element in the urban landscape of Jaén that must be naturally integrated into the new building.
The plot is rectangular in shape with its bases arranged along a north-south axis. The topography is fairly flat, sloping continuously from the southwest to the northeast. It is divided into two parts, one of which is affected by the archaeological remains.
The available site occupies 60% of the plot designated for educational use, as the aforementioned archaeological site is located in the western half of the plot, which is reduced to 50% (3,060 m²) when a 5-meter-wide strip is set back as a protective border for the remains. The perimeter roads are well sized for vehicular traffic with generous sidewalks on both sides and medium-sized trees in the growth phase. The maximum difference in level between the perimeter sidewalk and the available area is 2.25 m, but as a result of the archaeological excavation, the interior is depressed to a depth of 3-4 m below the sidewalk.
The net plot area is not generous for a 4,658 m² construction program, therefore, a very rational and compact building is essential in order to fit the Requirements Program of a Higher Conservatory of Music.
We have proposed a building that is easily recognizable for its unique character in keeping with its function as a building for teaching the arts, giving it a presence that stands out from the surrounding buildings while integrating into the residential fabric, through the use of materials and construction elements and current technologies that are highly energy efficient, with reference to Mediterranean architecture and an emphasis on economy of use and maintenance.
From the outset, we sought to ensure that the overall design met sustainability criteria, incorporating passive energy-saving systems and respect for the environment.
The need to accommodate a diverse range of uses, seeking their specificity and most appropriate scale, added to the condition of being a detached building, led to the organization of the teaching program in a continuous volume that develops around its most emblematic space, the auditorium, highlighting its uniqueness. Organically, a narrow ground floor corridor for rehearsal rooms wraps around the auditorium from the interior garden plaza, gradually increasing in width and height according to the functional and acoustic needs of the larger classrooms, until it reaches a three-story wing that forms the façade parallel to the main road, Paseo de España, where the entrance is located.
This organic form allows for visual continuity around the entire perimeter of the building, showing the same hierarchy on all sides and enhancing its status as a public building.
The location of the main lobby allows for the organization of the different circulation routes from there, both to the teaching area and to the administration and common services.
The proposal is compact and has been zoned by use and acoustically, taking care of the relationships between these spaces and between them and the exterior.
The L-shaped building opens inward onto a large space for the teaching community to meet and socialize, conveying the serenity that a public building requires and acting as a visual reference point that allows visitors to view the archaeological remains and the students' rehearsal booths. The generously sized porch connects the building to this outdoor space, reinforcing its use with the cafeteria and the accessible rooftop (a space for the educational community to relax and unwind).
The building's design allows for accessible slopes at the main entrance, the secondary entrances, and the central garden area.
The main entrance is located on Paseo de España, due to its urban significance as a large landscaped boulevard.
At the boundary between the educational plot and the archaeological remains, a road has been designed for buses, emergency vehicles, and parking, as well as access for loading and unloading from the square that forms the rear L-shape.
Access to the auditorium can be separated from the rest of the building by three movable wooden panels, for use outside school hours. The adjacent layout of the auditorium, orchestra room, percussion room, ensemble room, and storage rooms allows for easy transport of bulky instruments between them.
Medium-sized trees have been planted to provide shade for the interior space, from where the rehearsal booths can be accessed outside school hours.
The envelope has been designed with a ventilated fiber cement façade colored with a warm cream-colored silicate glaze with a slight greenish tint to blend in with the surroundings, both the Andrés de Vandelvira Park on the Boulevard and the hillside of the Santa Catalina Castle. The windows are continuous and narrow, like horizontal slits, to emphasize the prismatic volume that overlooks the boulevard.
Internally, the construction system responds to a series of improvements in acoustic design to avoid coloration. To this end, the layout of the rooms and classrooms is not uniform. In small rooms, some walls have been slightly sloped to prevent all surfaces from being parallel. The use of acoustic curtains with a high degree of absorption in all instrumental classrooms allows us to quickly adjust their absorption, modifying their reverberation time depending on the musical instrument used. In specific classrooms, the layout of the cladding is designed according to its use, either diffractive or absorbent, to improve the interior acoustics.
Team:
Developer: Public Education Agency Of The Regional Government Of Andalusia
Architects: Fernando Suárez Corchete, Antonio García Bueno, Lorenzo Muro Álvarez.
Collaborating Architects: Rafael Romero Quiñones, Francisca Asensio Teruel, Miguel Cerero Molina, María Pilar Casado Villa, Pablo Romero Sedano, Elisa María Ramiro Agudo, Antonio Alanís Arroyo.
Installation Engineers: Rafael Montes Gámez, Juan M. Fernández Cañedo.
Acoustic Engineer: Antonio Arranz Ortiz.
Archaeology: Rubén Sánchez Gallego.
Technical Architect: Francisco José Ibáñez Moreno.
Collaborating Technical Architect: Jorge García Valero.
Health And Safety Coordinator: Damián Molino Garrido.
Constructor:
Phase 1: Ecsa Obra Pública Y Civil, S.l.
Phase 2: Empresa De Transformación Agraria S.a. S.m.e. M.p. (Tragsa, Grupo Epi)
Photographer: Fernando Alda
Materials Used:
Montajes eléctricos Merlo (Electricity and telecommunications)
Intelec Ingeniería (Air conditioning)
DM Grupo (Carpentry and flooring)
Talleres Gómez Fernández (Ironwork)
Ramón Cañada (Plumbing)
MAIN SUPPLIERS:
PROMAT (Ventilated facade)
ARTIGO (Rubber flooring)
GRADHERMETIC (Corridor ceilings)
PROALUM (Aluminum carpentry by Cortizo)
