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Architects: Santa-Cruz Arquitectura
- Area: 1345 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:David Frutos Photography
Text description provided by the architects. Baltasar building is a collective housing project that addresses the balance between heritage conservation and urban densification from the framework of the three pillars of sustainability:
Social Sustainability. Strategy: A project transforming a sober 19th-century neoclassical building in a state of ruin into affordable rental apartments. Two new floors providing private homes are added; bringing a new perspective to the building and the area that merges past and contemporary. A mixed residential model aiming to energize and diversify the social profile in a highly densified neighborhood.
Identity: Connecting with the city’s motto "Priscas novissima exaltat et amor" meaning “to embrace and love the old and new”. A strategy to preserve and put a value on the emblematic elements of the existing building, adapting them to contemporary needs and domesticity.
Equity: Balancing the quality of rental and private housing, preventing the hierarchy of property standards by creating an inclusive design that offers a response to different residents and needs.
Local crafts and industrial elements. Exploring ornamentation and traditional crafts through the new industrial technique of local manufacturers (such as steel and rope latticework) and a contemporary reinterpretation, in a constant dialogue with the artisan elements of the pre-existing building. In the building extension, the rope lattice and the stainless-steel die-cut sheet lattice are performed by local artisans.
Environmental Sustainability. Biophilia. In order to recover the ecological relationship with nature and its benefits for well-being, new infrastructures related to the support of plants are added, as well as the use of natural colors and materials. On the top floor terraces, a garden of native species is placed with the aim of promoting biodiversity and reducing the heat island effect in the city.
Bioclimate. There are several bioclimatic solutions to reduce energy consumption. Among them are the EIFS-Thermal Inertia combination, the renovation of windows with a thermal break or the use of solar protection elements, such as traditional external blinds in the existing building, and the use of latticework in the extended floors.
Economic Sustainability. Achieved from energy efficiency bringing down energy consumption, resource efficiency, rehabilitating and taking advantage of an existing building, or local economy, reducing transport costs, and contributing to improve the economic activity in the area.
