Courthouse Extension / Enrique Bardají & Asociados

Courthouse Extension  / Enrique Bardají & Asociados - ChairCourthouse Extension  / Enrique Bardají & Asociados - FacadeCourthouse Extension  / Enrique Bardají & Asociados - Table, Chair, WindowsCourthouse Extension  / Enrique Bardají & Asociados - Windows, FacadeCourthouse Extension  / Enrique Bardají & Asociados - More Images+ 18

  • Architects Design: Enrique Bardají Álvarez and Carlos Santi Merayo
  • Technical Architect: Juan José Ruiz de la Fuente
  • Lightweight Waffle Slab Formwork: FOREL S.A.
  • Metal Structure And Locks: Socevall Hermanos Valles S.L.
  • Aluminium Carpentry Glass And Composite External: Industrias Metalicas Vallisoletanas, S.L.
  • Heating/Air Conditioning, Solar Installations, Plumbing, Sanitary Facilities And Fire Protection: Cofely, S.A.
  • Natural Stone (Granite): Extremarmol S.L.
  • Glass (In Carpentry And Locks): La Veneciana de Iberiaglass, S.L.
  • Supply Of Technical Flooring: Crespi S.P.A.
  • Gardening: Roberto Cordero Blanco
  • Sculpture: Angela Merayo
  • Structural Engineering: Valladares Ingeniería
  • Installations: Valladares Ingeniería
  • City: Ponferrada
  • Country: Spain
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Courthouse Extension  / Enrique Bardají & Asociados - Cityscape, Windows
© José Manuel Cutillas Medina

Text description provided by the architects. The Judicial Shared Services Building is in Ponferrada next to the Sil riverside park. It is an independent building but designed as an extension to the existing courthouse which, together with two cultural and National Police Force buildings, complete the block and restrict the entry of light into the extension.

Courthouse Extension  / Enrique Bardají & Asociados - Facade
© José Manuel Cutillas Medina

It is developed on four storeys above ground level, together with a semi-basement and basement. Although the extension built has an independent access, security measures have made it essential to design a large shared entrance hall for the two buildings linking them physically and visually on the ground floor and providing a connection using a closed bridge-gallery.

Courthouse Extension  / Enrique Bardají & Asociados - Image 20 of 23
South Elevation

The vertical communications, toilets, archives and installations are located in a strip running along the northern part of the building allowing the workrooms to be flexibly arranged on the rest of the floor, pursuing the principles of rationality and economy.

Courthouse Extension  / Enrique Bardají & Asociados - Facade
© José Manuel Cutillas Medina

The difficulties in terms of sunlight presented by the site and the special climate of Ponferrada, together with the need to illuminate all floors of the court offices, have conditioned the choice of a glass wall for the whole envelope of the building except for the southern facade.

Courthouse Extension  / Enrique Bardají & Asociados - Windows, Facade
© José Manuel Cutillas Medina

To mitigate this circumstance, a double glass skin was chosen, separating and opening up on the semi-basement and ground floors to generating a greenhouse in the shade of these floors. This element is the true heart and climatic lung of the building. The flows of cool, damp air in summer and hot, temperate air in winter generated by this space make it possible to establish air circulation inside the double skin to improve the climatic conditions of the building as a whole.

Courthouse Extension  / Enrique Bardají & Asociados - Facade
© José Manuel Cutillas Medina

The closed double skin, permeable to the outside and with windows with motorised opening systems inside, incorporates walkways formed by practicable elements allowing the control of air circulation. The strips are opened or closed depending on the season, allowing control of the air flows in the chamber. This circumstance associated with the opening of the motorised windows first thing in the morning introduces temperate air, sweeping through the workrooms before the building is occupied.

Courthouse Extension  / Enrique Bardají & Asociados - Image 22 of 23
Constructive Section

In summer, the cool air accumulated in the greenhouse-chamber (which has little exposure to the sun) during the night will improve the thermal conditions of the air in the offices. In winter, with the closure systems impeding the air movement, a natural layer of warm air will be developed to prevent energy loss from the inner skin.

Courthouse Extension  / Enrique Bardají & Asociados - Chair
© José Manuel Cutillas Medina

The rest of the materials used on the facade (ochre granite on the south of the building and aluminium panels on the east and north facades) not only makes it a representative public building, it also allows a simple, continuous compositional interplay of clear volumes and organised appearance providing mobility, in which the interplay of light and shade strengthens the general composition.

Courthouse Extension  / Enrique Bardají & Asociados - Facade
© José Manuel Cutillas Medina

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Project location

Address:Av. Gran Via Reino de León, 7, 24400 Ponferrada, León, Spain

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "Courthouse Extension / Enrique Bardají & Asociados" 29 Oct 2015. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/775885/extension-to-the-courthouse-enrique-bardaji-and-asociados> ISSN 0719-8884

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