previous state
uses layout
project plan
paper bills and graphic patterns related to the buildings' ages
application of patterns relates to buildings' ages
patterns engraved on the stone stripes
carlos III, the king who created the bank
application of the carlos III portrait on the engraved stone stripes
architect/ vora (pere buil, toni riba) + virai ( juan herranz, marta parra)
project team/ (vora) adrià guardiet, karolina streimikyte (virai) stefania virgilo
engineering/ daniel fernández
budget control/ virai
building coordination architect/ virai
building assistance architect/ vora
building engineering coordination/ daniel fernández
execution control/ miguel gonzález-carvajal
contractor/ ceinsa
client/ financial institution
photographs/ adrià goula
the plan 2017 awards/ selected
2a continental architectural awards 2019/ award, 2nd, old and new category
surface design awards 2020/ international. finalist, public realm
11th international biennial of landscape architecture 2020. rosa barba award/ selected
surface area/ 3.900 m2
project/ 2012-2013
construction/ 2014-2016
the courtyard is defined by buildings of different periods, which enclose the city block, and their extensions into this central space, so that the yard is a sequence of rather long, narrow open-air spaces.
the function of the yard is operational and logistic: vehicle access to the underground parking inside the block; access and parking for the loading and unloading of various materials for the operation of the institution; access and parking of official vehicles, etc.
the intervention defines a single plane of paving, thus eradicating the physical boundary between the area for vehicles and the pedestrian space while establishing a soft demarcation between them that is impassable for vehicles but permeable for pedestrians.
the basic materiality is unitary and simple – a single continuous physical substance, asphalt – and identity is transmitted by the application of a conceptual compositional motif which also defines the uses of the space, while the bands of granite, the same material as the plinth through which the building contacts the ground, are engraved with graphic motifs.
the bands of granite bestow signification on two scales, both abstract and poetic, invoking the function of the institution to which the space belongs, and its history. the signifying element here is paper money as manifestation of the virtual, symbolic value of money, with no direct equivalence in the value of the object that represents it.
paper currency – the banknote – has certain common characteristics all over the world: rules of graphic composition, image application, watermarking and so on, which derive from the need to make it difficult to copy. these characteristics can be embodied in the materiality of the paper and in the composition of images through the drawing of lines. their different thicknesses and directions mean that in close proximity these lines are clearly perceived as such while from a certain distance they are dissolved in another reading of applied images and textures. the composition of the paving generates a motif that refers to this graphic system.
at the same time the graphic patterns engraved on these bands of stone bear witness to the history of the institution, reflected in the phases of construction of the buildings that house it (1882-1891, 1927-1934 and 1969-1975). three graphic patterns, three distinctly different styles, extracted and reinterpreted from the banknotes of the three genealogical moments of its construction, are applied to the bands located in each historical area.
the application of this composition and these graphic patterns makes the logistics yard a truly genuine, particular space, over and above its functional and aesthetic value.
selection the plan 2017 awards
2nd award 2a awards 2019
finalist surface design awards 2020
selection 11th international biennial of landscape architecture 2020
the brief was to redevelop the logistics yard in the interior of a city block that is occupied in its entirety by a major financial institution. the intervention both merges and at the same time demarcates the pedestrian space and the vehicle area.
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