Two different developments, twenty eight dwellings and a hotel, share the same project to establish between them a relationship of synergy. They share a courtyard that gives consistency to the complex but does not homogenise it. This space is the result of the hierarchical and articulated sum of lesser courtyards that meet the different internal needs. The facades of the hotel and the dwellings establish a dialogue between them according to their different nature.
The building occupies the site of the old port-facing industrial facilities. The urban-type hotel meets the challenge of its location with industrial logic. Adapting to the surroundings is a sustainable principle.
The volumes of the hotel show and articulate themselves in a natural way, from inside out, according to their character and function. The containers of the bedrooms standing on a cracked stone plinth that houses the communal zones. Deep cracks through which we enter the interior.
The building has no complexes about using renewable energies such as solar thermal and solar photovoltaic energy, though truly integrating them into its architecture. Integrating an installation in an architectural manner can mean exploring its possible latent beauty. Create an architectural order from its construction.
The typical rooms have no terraces. This is not a 'sun and beach' hotel. But it would be no bad thing if the entire room could be transformed into a great balcony opened over the magnificent views of the port and the Mediterranean. We suggest a hybrid solution between frames and curtain wall that will permit a more complex and free interaction with the outside. The transparency and constructional consistency of the curtain wall is taken advantage of, together with the capacity for large, convenient openings of window frames.
The visor of photovoltaic solar panels integrated into each module completes its unity. Beside producing electrical energy and preventing disturbing levels of dazzling, they reduce the thermal load on the facades, save energy in air conditioning and permit using a more transparent glass. The aim was to show them off in the most elegant and honest way possible through the creation of a certain rhythm, a true “architectural order”. Thanks to this installation and the solar thermal energy also integrated in the building, as much as three hundred annual tons of carbon dioxide are not poured into the atmosphere.
The courtyard is the heart of the building. Located in the basement, the meeting rooms receive natural ventilation and lighting through an excavated courtyard. A scientific study in collaboration with the University of Seville demonstrates the rationality of the air conditioning and air distribution. This central courtyard is the fundamental piece from the first floor to the nethermost basement floor, allowing the building to breathe by injecting clean, temperate air from it and pushing out the used air through the lateral technical courtyards. This is a well of light and fresh air. The cold air, due to its greater density, settles at the bottom, especially at night. The fact that the well is excavated improves its performance yet further. Air intakes integrated in the courtyard's curtain wall let in this temperate air for air conditioning rooms, restaurants and vestibule.
These bioclimatic strategies improve comfort and provide energy savings in such a way that the building consumes 50% less energy than similar ones in the area.
Material Used :
1. iGuzzini - Indoor-outdor Lighting
2. Fermacell - Dry partition
3. Technal - Windows and curtain wall
4. Texsa - Rootex V, Super Morter Plas
5. Ulma - Copings
6. Porcelanosa - Floor and wall tiles
7. Roca - Taps and sanitary ware
8. Berker - Switches and systems
