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Architects: Pàmpols Arquitecte
- Area: 2140 m²
- Year: 2009
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Photographs:Oriol Rosell i Giménez
Text description provided by the architects. Pàmpols Arquitecte designed this residential building in the historic center of Lleida, Spain. This brought with it the challenges of doing something new in an area with rich history. Dealing with social housing construction in a old town, grouped and serial, suggests the establishment of parallelisms between simple function tasks and complex purposes, which puts contemporary building housing in a strong need to standardize. Responding to this situation Pàmpols Arquitecte say, “we have sought perfection, harmony, accuracy, and economy of space. All this is not just perfection and harmony, but beauty.” In the proposed architecture, the image of the block is only suggested by the volume of two resounding buildings slipping between them. They define a horizontal movement - the only one possible, given the fragmentary visions of them one could have when approaching, the one over the other, pierced by rows of windows with various fastening systems.
Today, the economic system favors rationalization and normalization on subsidized housing. But, on the other hand, the increase of complexity of our social requirements (singles, single-parent families, elder people, immigration with familiar numerous structures, etc ...) reveals that flexibility is required. In the future one will have to attend to both aspects. To achieve this intention, Pàmpols Arquitecte propose a system of skeleton construction as the most opportune solution; provided that it makes possible means of rationalized fixation and, at the same time, the division does not hinder the interior space.
According to this respect, Pàmpols Arquitecte have considered the kitchens and hygienic chambers, given the requirements of its facilities, as fixed cores and that the remaining space could be divided with either mobile furniture or partitions (mobile walls). Depending on the needs of the user, of the type of family who lives there, on the arrival of visitors or of the day / night, leisure / work cycles, space will change, will transform.
All the dwellings are opened both to the street and to the interior space of the court (patio). This character provides them with a suitable crossed ventilation and sun heating, promoted by the descending trays of the section.
