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Architects: Mallol
- Year: 2011
Text description provided by the architects. The venue for the episcopal conference is inserted in an area of lush green vegetation in an area of detached houses in Clayton, former Panama Canal strip. The project was to design the facilities to provide the Catholic Church and its bishops an appropriate and functional venue that allowed them to fully develop their administrative activities.
The program, much larger at first, demanded to be executed in phases so it was decided to separate the program in separate pavilions. Finally, it was reduced to an administrative area in the "U" building, and another area for the residence of the members of the archdiocese.
One goal of the design team was accessibility for people with disabilities to all buildings. To this end, we have taken into account international European standards that set requirements and minimum dimensions of services in access, parking, circulation, stairs and elevators widths.
The buildings exploit the natural slope towards a ravine to blend with the environment and go unnoticed by relying on the use of a green roof. The location of existing trees is kept by placing both buildings so as to form a courtyard like a cloister around which all circulations are established in plan.
The building envelope is made using a prefabricated modular concrete system forming a sequence of solids and voids framing views of the surrounding landscape, creating, in turn, a serial shadow sifting the interior environment.
It was a commitment and purpose to show the client that you can make a religious architecture with a contemporary language that also communicates with its surroundings and is enjoyed by all.
