Affordable housing
Cambrils
The plot is located in a residential environment of small-scale buildings, intended for single-family housing. The only building that does not meet these criteria of land occupation is the senior residence on the neighboring plot to the north. The concept of the proposal is based on two blocks that seek to make a transition between the two types of land occupation.
The project consists of social housing, with the purpose of satisfying the temporary needs of disadvantaged groups of population
The position of the buildings within the plot responds to the search for the maximum sun exposure in each of the housing units, respecting both the building limits and the need to have units with a double orientation, allowing cross ventilation and compacting the circulation in the common areas. This way, one building is facing the main street, giving rise to residential units facing northeast and southwest, while the other seeks the orientation of the public space of the neighboring plot, helping to delimit the free area of the senior residence and the intervention itself; its orientation is southeast and northwest.
We chose to oversize the housing units of each of the two blocks and by emptying the units in excess, generate a porch open to the green area on the ground floor. At the same time, through the disintegration of the volumes on the upper floors, we obtained social spaces that enrich the common areas.
| Location | Cambrils |
| Year | Finalist competition 2007 |
| Surface | 2.876 m² |
| Budget | 2.588.400 € |
| Promoter | Incasol |
| Team | Noelia Asensi, Eduard Trias, architecture. Monica Simoes, graphic design. Carlos Ortega 72 dpi rendering. |
Estel Nursery School
Palamós
This project has been a unique opportunity to work in depth on the concepts of environmental impact and life cycle of materials. After analyzing the site we see that we have a mass of Platanus Hispanica and a low resistance terrain, which will involve deep foundations. The first project decision was to position the entire program on one floor, simplifying the construction system and the foundations. The vegetation treatment strategy consists in maintaining the grove on the south side and creating a large garden over the building, integrated into the city through a new habitat.
Technological innovation, low impact on materials and energy efficiency have been the main axes in the development of the project.
The building protects itself from the sun through porches and intermediate spaces that connect with the main parts of the program: classrooms and dining room. Other implemented measures are: a deciduous grove, a green roof with a water cistern, sanitary floors, large porches, natural cross ventilation powered by the central skylights (chimney effect), solar panels for domestic hot water and underfloor heating, etc.
The construction is fully industrialized and removable. The precast elements are diverse, from the structure (which is visible), the slabs of honeycomb plates, or the facade of colored concrete panels. The installations are exposed and the false ceilings appear punctually as hanging elements of geometrical shapes and basic colors, perfectly recognizable by children. Important passive energy saving measures are taken.
| Location | Palamós |
| Year | 1st prize competition 2004 |
| Completion date | 2007 |
| Surface | 1.280 m² |
| Budget | 1.678.507 € |
| Promoter | Ajuntament de Palamós |
| Constructor | Imaga Proyectos y Construcciones SA |
| Team | Sergio Lopez, architecture. Xavier Aguado, structure engineering. Proisotec, facilities engineering. MIF, quantity surveyor and site segurity control. Starp, photography. |
| Publications | La Proa |
The Madina Yabisa information Centre
Dalt Vila, Ibiza
The first reference of the Curia´s House dates from 1490, rising on the walls that were part of the triple Arabic defensive enclosure of the district of Dalt Vila. The new use is born from the declaration of the monumental complex of Dalt Vila as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, becoming the information point and visitor center “Madina Yabisa”.
Once the previous archaeological excavations have been carried out, the proposal responds to the new public use, restoring and valuing the singular elements and the recovered structures, and suppressing the added ones. The totality of the complex is restored and the building is extended towards the back garden located outside the walls.
The project is understood as a journey through history, between the ancient walls of the triple Arab enclosure (located below the square-viewpoint) and between the two towers that define the intervention, connecting with the lower gardens.
The elimination of added elements allows us to highlight those of greater singularity and historical value, recovering the architecture and connecting it to its surroundings
The intervention allows the prolongation of the viewpoint of the cathedral square, recovering the space occupied by the old Lonja. The layout of the wall and the primitive Arabic tower, which is visited inside the building, emerge to the surface by the means of a differentiated pavement.
| Location | Dalt Vila, Ibiza |
| Year | 2002 |
| Completion date | 2007 |
| Surface | 515 m² |
| Budget | 731.312 € |
| Promoter | Consorci Eivissa Patrimoni de la Humanitat Ajuntament de la Ciutat d’Eivissa |
| Constructor | Ferrovial Agroman S.A. |
| Team | Xavier Salvador, Pep Ramon Mari, Sonia Serra, architecture. Toni Casas, structure engineering. Toni Roig, facilities engineering. MIF, quantity surveyor. Joan Francesc Marí, site segurity control. Rosa Gurrea, Glenda Graziani, history and archeology. BM Lighting design. Starp, photography. |
| Publications | PAEF 04–07. Premis d’arquitectura d’Eivissa i Formentera. Europaconcorsi. |
| Awards | 2on Prize Ciudades Patrimonio de la Humanidad, Ministerio de Cultura. |