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Architects: Republica DM
- Year: 2011
Text description provided by the architects. Castillo de Cala is a medieval fortification in the mountain region of Huelva. Its initial state of ruin raised many questions about certain construction and functional aspects. The intervention is an enhancement of the monument, through a volumetric-spatial recovery and reparation of damages, understanding that this is a patrimonial asset inserted in the “cultural landscape” and must therefore be treated as such. For this purpose, we have taken into account criteria based on the Charter of Krakow in 2000, which is a consequence of the multiplicity of texts, provisions and debates that since the Charter of Restoration have been agreed upon under the enormously heterodox framework of any thought or action in the architectural field of heritage.
In this context, the term “intervention” should be understood, strictly speaking, as a process of thinking and acting in the interests of re-habilitation for cultural purposes, and the social recovery of the BIC. That is: the study, research, discussion, the iterative process… In short, the work done by a multitude of people from different disciplines, along with the execution of construction work, leading to the formal configuration of the Castillo de Cala. It is this vision which we intend to offer in this article. Hence, for example, references to the “technical credits” at the beginning, as a cause – not effect – of the architectural intervention, reflecting the process from the transdisciplinary warp instead of a pyramidal and hierarchical conception. All of this in the framework of the economic-social crisis…
Although the overall state of ruin of the castle raised many questions regarding certain aspects of construction, there was enough data to propose its full restoration, which mainly considered the repair of damages and the enhancement of the monument through its volumetric recovery at a large scale, as well as the rescue of documented levels of use.
We should note that even pretending to recover the general outline of the building, this was a patrimonial asset inserted in a landscape and should therefore be treated with the corresponding criteria of intervention. We proposed, among others, the following actions: treatment to remove foreign matter existing in walls, consolidation of walls with degradations, recovery of levels, and excavation in an open area within the building, defining the original level set at the last archeological interventions.
