Sa Pobla Social Housing ANALYSIS

SA POBLA SOCIAL HOUSING

The Drawings shown in this Plan Analysis Portfolio are original work based on the limited images and project information found on the Architects website and online Architecture Magazines. This information is included in the appendix at the end of the report.

Authors Hietbrink, Cedric Kerekes, Bálint Raimundo De Carvalho, Marta Savonije, Jelte AR1AD014 Fundamentals of Housing Design AR1A080 Building Engineering Studios Delft University of Technology Department of Architecture

CONTENTS Section A Section B

Data and project description Analytical drawings

1 B1 B2 B3 B4

Section C

Reflection on fundamentals Appendix

Urban situation Building configuration Dwellings Materialisation

5 13 33 43 57 61

A

Project name Architect Design/construction year Location/address FSI GSI dw/ha Dwelling types/amount Amenities

Data and Project Description

A DATA AND PROJECT DESCRIPTION 19 Viviendas Sociale Ripoll Tizon 2008/2012 Carrer Mercat 92. Sa Pobla, Mallorca, Spain 2.17 0.70 166 Social housing/19 units Parking garage

1 2

A

Value. Having this into consideration Ripoll Tizón made the decision to design a Social Housing Apartment Building that would not only fulfil the housing needs of people in the area but also pay respect to traditional architecture.

With this mix of modern / Simplistic design and cultural inspired design, the architects were able to preserve a little bit of Sa Pobla, taking clear references from nearby elements, like its climate people and life-style.

Cultural preservation is something that is very strong in this project. Sa Pobla is a small town between the Tramontana mountain range, the Pla and Alcúdia bay, with its land divided into 3 areas: Fertile Agricultural fields, Albufeira landscape with high ecological value and Lower Mountain Lands, where this project is inserted. Over the years this specific area has made transformations to generate commercia/industrial value and boost touristic revenue. This would mean that area would embrace changes in its traditional architecture. Unfortunately many of this changes were poorly executed influencing Sa Pobla to loose a fragment of its Cultural Architectural

It can also be discussed how this project plays an interesting game between minimalism and complexity at the same time. Something that becomes even more clear when analyzing the complexity of its building configuration and the simplicity of its building elements. W

Through this analysis we will perform an analytical decomposition of the building, to discover exactly how this aspects of urban integration, building configuration, complex while functional organization of dwellings, building technologies and climate responsive design, are introduced in this specific project making it an unique and inspired design.

Data and Project Description

In this paper we will be analyzing ‘Sa Pobla Social Housing’, a 19 dwelling project located north in the Island of Mallorca, by the Palma based Architecture Studio, Ripoll Tizón. This studio has contributed in many social housing initiatives, in both the islands and continental Spain, always carefully considering the culture in which their design will be inserted. This way making sure that the historical architecture value of the area is preserved.

Lastly, something else that also makes this project stand out, is its climate responsive design trough almost fully passive methods.

3 4

B1 URBAN SITUATION 7 8 9 10 11 12

Figure ground plan I Climate conditions Figure ground plan II Solar study Urban isometric Urban sections

FIGURE GROUND PLAN I 1:10000 @A4

0

100

250

500

B1

MONTHLY HOURS OF SUNSHINE

AVERAGE HUMIDITY

The mean minimum and maximum temperatures over the year.

The average monthly total hours of sunshine over the year

The mean monthly relative humidity over the year

AVERAGE WATER TEMPERATURE

MONTHLY PRECIPITATION

MONTHLY RAINY DAYS

The mean water temperature over the year.

The mean minimum and maximum temperatures over the year.

The average number of days each month with rain, snow, hail etc.

Urban Situation

AVERAGE DAY AND NIGHT TEMPERATURE

7 8

FIGURE GROUND PLAN II 1:2500 @A4

0

25

250

125

B1 Urban Situation

June 21

73.5°

SHADES ShadesPARTIALLY partially SHADES ShadesHALF halfOF ofTHE theDAY day

Dec 21

SUN PATH ANALYIS 1:1000 @A4

SHADES ShadesALLallDAY day

26.8°

9 0

10

25

50

10

URBAN SECTIONS 1:1000 @A4

0

10

25

50

B1 Urban Situation

URBAN ISOMETRIC

11

1:500 @A4

12

B2 Building Configuration

B2 BUILDING CONFIGURATION 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Basement plan Site response Ground floor plan Access system First floor plan Structural system Second floor plan Public/Private/Collective realm Roof plan

24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

Service distribution system Nort elvation South elevation Courtyard elevation Courtyard composition Passive ventilation Environmental strategies Shading study Passive solar gain

13 14

BASEMENT PLAN 1:200 @A4

0

2

5

10

B2 Building Configuration

Outlines of the building site

The site is divided with a grid of six-by-six meters. The corridors and elevator shafts have a different width of three meters.

The six-by-six meters grid is divided by a secondary grid of three-by-three meters.

The dwellings are placed on this grid.

15 16

GROUND FLOOR PLAN 1:200 @A4

0

2

5

10

B2 Building Configuration

The access of the building is on the streetside. On the ground floor the courtyard is used as circulation area. The building has two lifts with stairs next to them. The lift closes to the entrée goes up one floor and is

connected with the apartments by a gallery. The other lift goes up two floors and is also connected to the apartments by a gallery.

17 18

FIRST FLOOR PLAN 1:200 @A4

0

2

5

10

B2 Building Configuration

The main structure is done with concrete columns and reinforced concrete floors. The floors have a maximum span of six meters. The structure is stabilized by block infills. The diagram shows the different floors and the

main structural elements. It also shows a fragment of the structure. In here in brown the block infills are shown.

19 20

SECOND FLOOR PLAN 1:200 @A4

0

2

5

10

B2 Building Configuration

The ground floor has the most collective space. This exist of a courtyard right in the middle of the building block. On the first and second floor corridors are used as collective space. Most of the apartments

have their own private outside space. This differs from small gardens, terraces, and loggias. Because of the small width of the building there is only a small part of the building connected with the public space.

21 22

ROOF PLAN 1:200 @A4

0

2

5

10

B2 Buildingconfiguration Configuration Building

dwellings use the same chimney. Because there are many chimneys there is almost no need for vertical air ducts.

Building configuration

The diagram shows the chimneys in the building. They chimneys are used to ventilate the dwellings. In every dwelling there are several funnels.

The kitchens and bathrooms are located next to these chimneys. Different

23 24

NORTH ELEVATION 1:200 @A4

0

2

5

10

B2

Building Configuration 25

SOUTH ELEVATION

26

SECTION A–A 1:200 @A4

0

2

5

10

B2 Building Configuration

THIRD VIEW

SECOND VIEW

FIRST VIEW

A

B One of the main design features in these building is its courtyard. Courtyards within residential buildings are a typical design choice in Spanish Architecture, and here we can see special efforts were applied to introduce this as a main component of the building.

C Most residents actually need to cross it regularly to get to their houses, making this area a collective space of circulation, but what is interesting about it is the creation a this irregular pattern just by deciding where 3 different sized openings will be.

Also looking at how different the patterns become depending on how far away they are form user perception. It helped us understand that clear rules are followed in the elevation design.

Rules that as a result do compromise between structural grid lines, providing the best opening position to its dwellings and of course the creation of an exterior balanced aesthetics.

27 28

The Environmental Strategy in these project relies fully in passive methods, like its deeply complex natural ventilation system. Wich can be created by applying a series of design decision that influence greatly the Air flow within the complex. But the most important Passive strategy applyed is STACK VENTILATION which operates with some simple principles based on the pressure differential between hot and cold air and the circulation in the whole system.

AIR CIRCULATION AND PASSIVE VENTILATION SYSTEM HOT AIR GOING UP AND OUT

COLD AIR COMING IN

PERSPECTIVE SECTION 1:200 @A4

0

2

5

10

B2 Building Configuration

STRATEGIC BALCONIES

EXTERIOR CIRCULATION

COURTYARD VENTILATION

SINGLE SIDE VENTILATION

CHIMNEYS WITH PERFORATED BRICK

Strategic Balconies that completly cross the building allow wind to come into the courtyard, they help to fully ventilate the houses turned to the interior of the complex.

Making the Colective Circulation and the Access to all houses exterior, means that there are no barriers stoping wind to flow freely and easely cooling down this areas.

For centuries, interior courtyards have been created to aid the purpose of natural ventilation and day lighting. It is highly efficient to have a courtyard because courtyard ventilation also has a passive cooling effects during the night which bring the overall temperature down.

Rooms inside the houses provide single sided ventilation. Commonly single sided ventilation is used in Temperate Climates, like Sa Pobla, to provide healthy and comfortable indoor environments.

All houses have a ventilation Chimney connection with spetial perforated bricks, that naturally provides air flow inside the houses through Stack Ventilation.

29 30

DESIGNING FOR THE SHADOWS In the specific climate of Sa Pobla controlling Heat gain inside the building is very important to create a comfortable and fresh environment. This is applied in Sa Pobla Social Housing by designing for the Shadows rather then for the light. In these cases the architects need to compromise between a space that has extra good levels of natural light and a space that provides a reasonable room temperature spetially in extra hot summer days. In these specific project we can see that there was a clear concern in creating stretegic shadows in outdoor colective and private spaces. This can be a very practical way of controlling heat gain in a passve way.

B A

PERSPECTIVE SECTION A 1:200 @A4

0

2

5

10

B2 Building Configuration

SUMER SOLISTICE MORNING 21 JUNE SOLAR ELEVATION

SUMER SOLISTICE AFTERNOON 21 JUNE

53.43 °

WINTER SOLISTICE AFTERNOON 21 December

WINTER SOLISTICE MORNING 21 December SOLAR ELEVATION

23.26 ° BEDROOM

BEDROOM

BEDROOM

KITCHEN LIVING ROOM

25 cm Window offset

31 32

B3 DWELLINGS 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42

Dwelling mix Dwelling rooms Outdoor spaces Maisonette type I Maisonette type II Maisonette type III Flat type I Flat type II

33 34

DWELLING CONFIGURATION Isometric

TYPE

NO.

BEDS

GRID (m)

AREA (m2)

MAISONETTE I

2

DOUBLE

6x6 + 6x6

~60

MAISONETTE II

5

DOUBLE

9x6 + 6x6

~67.5

MAISONETTE III

3

DOUBLE

6x6 + 9x6

~67.5

FLAT I

4

SINGLE

9x6

~48

FLAT II

5

DOUBLE

12x6

~64

DWELLING MIX

B3 Dwellings

PRODUCED

BY AN AN AUTODESK AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION PRODUCED PRODUCED BY BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT STUDENT VERSION VERSION

BEDROOM

BEDROOM

CIRCULATION

BATHROOM

CIRCULATION

BATHROOM

Double

FLAT

MAISONETTE

Single

ED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

DWELLING CONFIGURATION Plan

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION PRODUCED BYPRODUCED AN AUTODESK

BY AN STUDENT AUTODESK VERSION STUDENT

LIVING + DINING

ED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

PRODUCED BY AN STUDENT VERSION PRODUCED BY AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION PRODUCED PRODUCED BYSTUDENT AN AUTODESK AUTODESK

BY AN AN AUTODESK STUDENT STUDENT VERSION VERSION ED BY AN AUTODESK VERSION PRODUCED

BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION PRODUCED

BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

PRODUCED PRODUCED PRODUCED BY BYAN BY ANAUTODESK AN AUTODESK AUTODESK STUDENT STUDENT STUDENT VERSION VERSION VERSION

KITCHEN

KITCHEN

35 36

TERRACE LOCATIONS

SINGLE ASPECT

DUAL ASPECT

TRIPLE ASPECT

This type of balcony is characterised by it being surrounded by three walls and one open side. This creates a front- and back side.

Being wedged inbetween dwellings, it has two open sides. To create privacy, a space filled with gravel is used to create distance to the edge

Two of these balconies can be found, which have fewer privacy due to only having one wall next to it. These are therefore surrounded by gravel on three sides

B

B 6000 mm

6000 mm

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

UPPER FLOOR

3000 mm

3000 mm

LOWER FLOOR

B

A

B

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

Dwellings

6000 mm

A

B3

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

SECTION A–A

SECTION B–B

MAISONETTE TYPE I 1:100 @A4

37 0

1

2

5

38

B

LOWER FLOOR

UPPER FLOOR

B 3000 mm 3000 mm 1:100 @A4

B

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

SECTION A–A

A

SECTION B–B

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

NOISREV TNEDUTS KSEDOTUA NA YB DECUDORP

6000 mm

A

MAISONETTE TYPE II

NOISREV TNEDUTS KSEDOTUA N

9000 mm

6000 mm

B

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

LOWER FLOOR

UPPER FLOOR

B

B

9000 mm

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

6000 mm

6000 mm

B3 Dwellings

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

A

3000 mm

3000 mm

B

B

A

SECTION A–A

SECTION B–B

MAISONETTE TYPE III 1:100 @A4

39 0

1

2

5

40

B

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

6000 mm

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

9000 mm

A

A

3000 mm

B

LOWER FLOOR

SECTION A–A

FLAT TYPE I 1:100 @A4

SECTION B–B

B3 Dwellings

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

B

6000 mm

A

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK STUDENT VERSION

9000 mm

A

A

LOWER FLOOR

3000 mm

B

SECTION A–A

SECTION B–B

FLAT TYPE II 1:100 @A4

41 0

1

2

5

42

B4 Materialisation

B4 MATERIALISATION 45

Detail section

47 48 49 51 53 54 55

Axonometric junction Window catalogue Shutters Glazing Life cycle duration R-strategies Material origins

56

Design for disassembly

43 44

+ 6500

+ 9500

+ 10950

WINDOW Limestone window sill 30 mm PVC frame 40 mm Reflective film 2 mm Double glazed window 2x 5

WALL PVC frame 10 mm Wood beam 100 mm Lintel concrete 150 mm Smooth cast white plaster 8 mm

WALL Smooth cast white plaster 8 mm EPS sandwich panel 100 mm Hollow concrete brick 150 mm

FLOOR Limestone tile 30 mm Poroton brick 150 mm Concrete topping 30 mm Reinforced concrete 300 mm EPS sandwich panel 100 mm Smooth cast white plaster 8 mm

CEILING Smooth cast white plaster 8 mm Reinforced concrete 300 mm 150 mm mineral wool

ROOF Beam wood 150 mm Slat wood 30 mm Roof tile cereamic 15 mm

+ 500

WALL Limestone tile 30 mm EPS sandwich panel 100 mm Reinforced concrete 300 mm

WALL Shutter wood 40 mm Smooth cast white plaster 8 mm EPS sandwich panel 50 mm Poroton brick 150 mm Smooth cast white plaster 8 mm

WALL Smooth cast white plaster 8 mm Poroton brick 150 mm EPS sandwich panel 100 mm Smooth cast white plaster 8 mm

CEILING Smooth cast white plaster 8 mm Reinforced concrete 300 mm Poroton tile 40 mm EPS sandwich panel 100 mm Gravel 100 mm

Materialisation

+ 3500

B4

46

45

EPS sandwich panels on exterior walls

Smooth Cast Plaster Finish

Timber Board PVC frame with double glass and reflective foil

Balcony floor

Double Glazing

In-situ concrete junction

Sliding shutters on ground floor

Natural Stone

In the axonometric section on the right a typical junction between wall and floor can be seen, also showing the different types of walls that occur in the structure, being either concrete slab of concrete columns with poroton bricks. The walls furthermore show a layer of EPS sandwich panels insulating the dwelling from the outside. All walls, both exterior and interior are finished with mooth cast white plaster, resulting in a very uniform look throughout the stsructure. By combining the porotone brick, which have good insulating properties, with a layer of insulation, the dwellings are expected to have a pleasant and stabile climate.

1:20

B4

Double Glazin g with Reflect ive Coatin ng

PVC Window Frame

White Painted Steel Frame

The Glass used on the Window although it appears to be a simple double-Glazing system it also appears to have an additional reflective coating, used to prevent the users privacy seeing that some dwellings can have a close relationship with the street and others with the interior courtyard inside the complex building.

Treated Compact Timber Board

We have decided to take special attention at the shutter system used in the building because they represent a big part of this project’s identity.Aesthetically speaking this is the feature that makes the building memorable to the Sa Pobla Resident. But after a deep study of its structure, we could conclude that the design of this specific windows and shutters have much more than just aesthetic in mind. The compact shutter is composed by two components, 1 solid treated timber board (that is exposed to the exterior when the window is closed) and one white painted Steel Frame (that is exposed when the window is open).

Just these two components are responsible both for allowing the building to adopt a series of different interesting patterns, depending on how many windows are open or closed, and for controlling sun light inside the dwellings and consequently users can avoid unpleasant heat gain inside just by having them completely closed or 90º open.

Materialisation

SHUTERS AND WINDOWS

47 48

S in g le H

C lo s e d

Po s it io n

0 Open 9

° fi x e d

u n g O u td

oor

S li d in g

O p e n 18

0 ° lo o s

e

O Pa rt ia ll y

pen

B4 Materialisation

SINGLE DOOR

DOUBLE WINDOW

SINGLE WINDOW

Closed Position

Single Hung Indoors

Tilt and Turn

49 50

LIFE CYCLE DURATION

Stuff <1 year

Services

• • • • • • • •

Exterior lighting House number signs Kitchen Ventilation ducts Wooden shutters Intercom Gate to underground car parking Elevators

• • • • • •

Double glazed windows EPS insulation Wooden doors Plaster Gravel Concrete window- or door ledge

• • • • • •

Stairs Floor tiles Wooden details Railings Concrete walkways Courtyard tree

• • • •

Reinforced concrete Red clay hollow bricks Concrete blocks Cement

• • •

Red dirt & rock soil Little to no vegetation Little rainfall

7-15 years

Skin >20 years

Space plan > 30 years

Structure 30-300 years

Site 30-300 years

How the materials perform during their lifetime is one of the key considerations in the design phase of a project. For this project, low cost for both construction and maintenance are required due to its future function as being a social housing complex for the foreseable future. Due to this requirement the architects have decided on concrete, red clay hollow bricks and concrete blocks for the structure, creating a very solid base on which the 19 dwellings can create their own space.

A similar approach was taken for the space plan, using natural stone tiles, metal railings and concrete walkways as the main elements. The skin consists of a limited amount of different materials, mostly being EPS insulation, double glaze windows, plaster and wooden doors and shutters.

Services and “stuff” include more detailed elements of the design, such as exterior lichting, ventilation ducts, an intercom and the elevators. These elements require regular maintenance te ensure they are running as they are meant ot.

To conclude, the materials and elements chosen for this project ensure a mostly maintenance free life cycle for a building that is meant to last

B4

R0 Refuse R1 Rethink R2 Reduce R3 Reuse R4 Repair

The Sa Pobla social housing project is designed in a mostly traditional manor, showing little thoughts on any of the R - strategies. The diagram below however shows how different elements might contribute to creating a project that uses certain R-strategies, eventhough they weren’t implemented for this reason.

Materialisation

R - STRATEGIES

The main elements that attribute to the circular thinking of the building are the minimalistic design and the decision to use red clay hollow bricks (poroton bricks). The minimalistic design, which is derived from a defined set of design rules, limits the amount of different elements, thereby limiting the amount of different transportation movements necessary for the project.

MINIMALISTIC DESIGN

DEFINED DESIGN RULES

MULTI-PURPOSE MATERIALS

R5 Refurbish

STURDY MATERIALS

R6 Remanufacture

BRICKS

R7 Repurpose

WOOD IN FACADE AND INTERIOR

R8 Recycle R9 Recover

The poroton bricks have several advantages, their production emits far less CO2 than regular bricks or concrete, they have great thermal- and sound insulating properties which limit the amount of additional materials necessary to create positive living conditions. They are furthermore relatively lightweight and therefore emit less carbon in transportation and are easy to handle on the construction site. The wood used in the window shutters and interior detailing attribute to not needing to use highly technical and climate negative materials such as aluminium of other rare metals.

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MATERIAL ORIGINS

MALLORCA SILES CONSTRUCCIONES Contractor

SA POBLA

BARCELONA

Materials most used are: poroton bricks, concrete, glass natural stone

VALENCIA

Due to its small size, Mallorca is not likely to produce all necessary construction materials needed for a construction like the Sa Pobla social housing project. Whilst concrete has to be produced on the island, the raw materials for its construction and others such as bricks and glass are therefore probably shipped from mainland spain which do have the necessary production facilities.

CYCLES

CO2 FOOTPRINT Due to the design choice of using poroton bricks and a relatively small amount of insulation due to climate conditions on Mallorca, the CO2 equivilant is relatively low.

However, there are no materials in the construction or finishing of the project originating in the biological cycle, except for the wood used in either the facades or the interior detailing.

Nearly all materials therefore have a certainamount of impact on climate change.

B4

Totals

Location

Structure

Skin

Services

Space Plan

5,5%

0%

85%

5%

10%

0%

82,62 m3

0 m3

70,23 m3

4,13 m3

8,26 m3

0 m3

66,9%

0%

21,8%

5%

6,9%

70,1%

1.011,59 m3

0 m3

220,185 m3

50,58 m3

70,81 m3

709,2 m3

0,6%

0%

0%

100%

0%

0%

9,26 m

3

0m

3

0m

3

9,26 m

0m

0 m3

27%

0%

0%

5,4%

0%

94,6%

409 m3

0 m3

0 m3

22 m3

0 m3

387 m3

Materialisation

MATERIAL PASSPORT 1.512,47 m3

RED HOLLOW CLAY BRICK

CONCRETE

GLASS

3

3

NATURAL STONE

53 54

DESIGN FOR DISASSEMBLY / ADAPTIBILITY / LONGEVITY

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

The Sa Pobla social housing project is primarily designed to create pleasant and private residences in a high density configuration. To achieve this the architects have chosen to focus on assembling a number of architectural rules from which the final design is derived.

This has resulted in a sturdy configuration with relatively small units and specific breakthroughs in the floors. Whilst some changes are possible in the future, the options are quite limited due to the fragmented nature of the design.

• Little repetition and may quirks • Services are not flexible • Floor plans are difficult to alter

SECOND FLOOR PLAN

As with the floor plans, shafts for either ventilation or plumbing are located in such a manner that nearly all bathrooms and kitchens are located adjacent to such a shaft.

Combined with the fact that the ventilation of the dwellings is organised by air entering through air vents and being discarded through chimeys in the kitchen in a passive manner results in a very limited possibility to change the floorplans.

Increasing the density on the plot is also nearly impossible due to the shafts and air vents that could get blocked by an expansion.

B4

The stakeholders for the project in Sa Pobla can be marked as being very traditional. There has been one party, who has its main focus on constructing and maintaining social housing in Mallorca, called Ibavi, which was the client for the project. There was one architecture firm who did the design process, which was mainly focussed on using the traditional building styles and blending in with the rest of the building block.

Materialisation

STAKEHOLDERS`

LOCAL SUPPLIERS

INTERNATIONAL SUPPLIERS

BUILDERS

One element of the design could be appointed to taking part in the circular is the use of poroton bricks, which contain residual products from energy production plants of other industrial processes.

CONTRACTOR

The design choices have resulted in a structure that is very dificult to reuse, mainly due to nearly all components being either put together by concrete, cement or plaster. The development process of this project can mostly be considered as being very non-circular.

MINERS RIPOLLTIZON ARCHITECTS CONSTRUCTION COMPANY

CONSTRUCTION WORKERS

SILES CONSTRUCCIONES

RESIDENTS

RECYCLING COMPANY • Traditional process • Materials not demountable • One type of re-use in construction

ENERGY PRODUCTION PLANT

IBAVI

NEIGHBOURHOOD

55 56

C REFLECTION ON FUNDAMENTALS I II III IV V VI VII +I

Climate responsive design Repetition and variation Type and typology Access systems Structure and Space Scalarity Private, Public and Collective realms The human aspect

57 58

CLIMATE RESPONSIVE DESIGN

REPETITION AND VARIATION

TYPE AND TYPOLOGY

ACCESS SYSTEMS

The analysis of the building design and a yearlong study on the climate in Sa Pobla help understand how this building is able to produce a responsive design for the temperate climate is integrated, while being fully dependent of passive environmental methods. Obtaining air flow within the complex was a crucial task due to the extremely dry and hot climate of Sa Pobla. The architects therefore created an complex air circulation strategy that is influenced greatly the design decision making of building components like strategic openings, external corridors and a semi-courtyard.

Again, taking into consideration this specific hot climate, the whole building seems to be designed for the shadow, prioritizing shadowy spaces that together with the ventilation strategy will be able to create drafted comfortable environments in the hot summer days.

Even though this building at first sight might communicate an accidental symmetric look, after doing a deep analysis of both its elevations and dwelling configuration, it becomes clear that a series of rules are followed carefully, to ensure the balance of all the architectural elements. All the facades simply show the different openings available to each dwelling, with no extra ornamentation. We can conclude that the patterns created in all the facades, are just a repetition of 3 different types of openings that varied in size and typology. The same happens in the design of each dwelling, in this case variation of dwelling types are achieved by experimenting different combinations of the same standard rooms.

As mentioned before the largest element of this project can be seen as the individual dwellings. This is due to the fact that all dwellings are unique, but are designed by having standard sizes and shapes for rooms and using these to create functional and comfortable dwellings.

Circulation and access in this building are done mostly externally due to climate responsive factors. After studying how the different dwellings are placed and where their entries are, it is apparant that circulation can be quite different from user to user, an interesting approach to have in a small-scale residential building. A gated entry on the ground floor grants access to the courtyard, directly turned to main street (this is also where the vehicular access to the garage is). From this main entrance, depending on where their dwelling is located the users can either have a corridor access (houses on the Ground floor) or a gallery access (houses on the First Floor).

The galleries are both connected by a seperate elevator that also reaches the parking garage.

By the fact that the service systems are preferably positioned above each other, anchor points in the positioning of the different rooms around these shafts is given. Furthermore, the six by six meters grid gives clear guidelines on the dimensions possible for certain amounts of dwellings.

In this project, it has resulted in five distinct types of dwellings having either one or two bedrooms and some with a double height space and others without.

By using these guidelines an intricate variation of dwellings is produced that come together in a uniform way, where the largest elements, the dwellings, are build up by the smalles elements, the individual rooms.

C

SCALARITY

PRIVATE/COLLECTIVE/PUBLIC REALMS

COMPLEXITY

Structure is the element necessary to create space. In the social housing project in Sa Pobla, a defined set of design rules has been applied to form an intricate and functional balance between the two.

The design rules as mentioned before are of great influence on the scalarity that this project portrays. By uniforming the design principles the architects have created a project from which almost any small scale detail could be seen as a typical section coming from nearly every spot in the project.

As many plots in the city of Sa Pobla, the project houses a courtyard, along which the dwellings are located. This courtyard is separated from the public realm by gates for the cars and people that might enter the plot.

Once the project is understood, the on first hand largely identical facades show a certain complexity which at the same time creates some sort of order. This quality fits between the scalarity of the whole and the repetition and variation that can be found throughout the project.

The load bearing structure, consisting mainly of concrete columns and slabs, has been placed on a six by six meter grid to allow for big spaces withing individual dwellings, extravagated by the double height spaces that haven been added to some of the dwellings. These big spaces have allowed the designers to create a series of unique dwellings, that at the same time allow little room for future adjustments due to the specific floor plans that have been created.

Due to the decision of using a concrete structure insulation needed to be added to the exterior walls to ensure positive and stabile climate conditions inside the dwellings. In walls separating dwellings the decision to use red clay hollow bricks attributes to both thermal- and sound insulation, enabling them to not need any more thickness.

The chosen structure allows each individual dwelling their own space, within a larger scheme. It is however not very prone to allow any changes due to its rigid and solid structure, which might have been a conscious consideration of the architects.

Within the plot, the largest element that can be found is the dwelling itself. These are linked mostly through two elements: the access structure and the service structure.

The access structure is comprised of a courtyard, adjacent semi-open hallways, two elevators and stairs followed by two corridor/ gallery accesses. The dwellings are placed in such manner around this access structure to keep certain spaces cool whilst allowing air into other parts of the access structure.

Where the access structure mainly has influence on the horizontal layout of the dwellings, does the service structure heavily the vertical stacking of dwellings and the bathrooms and kitchens they house. Due to the surrounding buildings only having three to four levels the decision was made to only include a maximum of three levels in the project, resulting in relatively small shafts. This has then led to a relative high amount of shafts, without hampering the spaces of the dwelling.

After going through this gate, the collective realm is entered, either by accessing the underground shared car parking or the courtyard from which all dwellings can be reached. This shared spaces has a purely functional and in some way clinical look and feel, not designed to stimulate inhabitants to claim the space for themselves, limiting the private spheres of the inhabitants to the dwellings themselves. A connection between the public and collective realm is however created by using the same type of pavement for the sidewalk as all collective walkways, connecting the front doors of the individual dwelling to the public street. Interaction between the inhabitants is mostly limited to seeing each other in the shared parking garage or the elevators and stair of the access structure the project has.

The private realm is designed as such, private outdoor spaces are seperated and due to the decision of placing the railings further inwards than necessary, views from courtyard to balcony are partly blocked. The design choices for lots of hard materials that require little maintenance attributes to the individuality of the dwellings, whilst still creating a high density.

Reflection on Fundamentals

STRUCTURE AND SPACE

The complexity of this project lies in the minimalistic approach that is taken to come to a holistic design that doesn’t require extensive detailing to create spaces that work through different scales. These scales range from the technical scale to human scale and also urban scale.

Being common scales to work with in many different projects, these have been attributed to this project by the combination of traditional elements in modern looks, not standing out in the urban fabric but creating a personal experience for its users. Materials which are used in both exterior as well as interior spaces tie spaces together, while the pavement of the sidewalk in the urban fabric is used to connect it to the individual front doors, even though being separated by a gate.

By having the smallest type of element being the room and having the dwelling as the largest, the universal use of the same materials still results in dwellings with identities, linking the technical scale to the human scale.

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D APPENDIX

https://arquitecturaviva.com/works/social-housing-in-sa-pobla

C Reflection on Fundamentals

https://arquitecturaviva.com/works/social-housing-in-sa-pobla

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D APPENDIX

https://arquitecturaviva.com/works/social-housing-in-sa-pobla

C Reflection on Fundamentals

https://arquitecturaviva.com/works/social-housing-in-sa-pobla

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