architecture today

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A R C H I T E C T U R E T O D A Y • 2 3 1

September 2012

Tim Ronalds on Chetham’s School of MusicDomestic dimensions: inventive houses on challenging sites by Gort Scott, Rural Studio, Dixon Jones, Alma-nacCatalan creativity • Reiach & Hall’s Forth Valley College Southend Pier pavilion • Olympic fringe benefits

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Above, left Extension to Josep Sureda iBlanes school in Palma, Mallorca, byMallorca-based SMS Arquitectos (AinaSalvà Tejedor b.1974, Alberto SanchezLopez b. 1974, Antonio Marqués b. 1971).The architects’ objective was to use the leastpossible amount of imported materials inthe 698 sq m, €440,000 building, both toreduce the ecological footprint and to locatethe building in a larger context.

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SPAINA young generation ofarchitects working inCatalonia and theBalearic Islands providesan antidote to the aridstylistic preoccupationsof much mainstreamEuropean architecture,says David Kohn.Photos: José Hevia.

concrete blocks – conventionallyused to make balconies, gardenwalls and ventilation screens inlocal houses – to create thethree new facades to the school.The combination of an informal

Despite dire economic condi-tions, a new generation of youngarchitects from Catalonia andthe Balearic Islands is creatingarchitecture that has much tocelebrate and commend to therest of Europe and furtherafield. Grounded in concernsfor local skills, ecologies andcontexts and turning limitedresources into a poetic economyof means, a consistent architec-tural language rooted in mod-ernism is emerging that hasdelight and wit enough to liftthe spirits in troubled times.

SMS Arquitectos’ extension toJosep Sureda i Blanes School islocated at the edge of Palma onthe island of Majorca, in a zoneof anomalous buildings wherethe town peters out into fields.The school, which specialises infood technology education, hasbeen one of the social centres ofan adjacent neighbourhood thatwas built in the 1970s primarilyto house workers in the tourismindustry. The new extension cre-ates five classrooms for the studyof pastry-making. SMS has usedlocally-made decorative precast

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composition, a strict construc-tional logic and inventive adap-tation of a vernacular technolo-gy lends the project a gravitas

grows out of its steep mountainsite. The living quarters and bed-rooms occupy two distinct enclo-sures that straddle an historic

Above, right The facade, constructed from standard precastblocks, is self-supporting, a cross between a ventilated facadeand a cavity wall, improving thermal efficiency of the skin.

that far outweighs its apparentlightness. The floral decorationinterspersed with large gold-anodised framed windows pro-

vides a playful clue to the con-fection taking place beyond.

Francisco Cifuentes’ house inBunyola, also on the island,

path that climbs from the villageup to terraces and fields higherup the valley. A limited palette oflocally-sourced clay blocks, con-crete pre-stressed beams andpine joinery has been combinedin an ingenious variety of config-urations to create interior andexterior spaces of a richness thatbelies their modest scale andsimple forms. The hearths andancillary spaces of entrance lobbies, kitchen and bathroomscut into the open plan living quarters to create aedicules that address views and thetopography of the site. Thearchitecture quietly foregroundsthe activity within and celebratesthe journeys through the houseand out into the landscape.


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The Collage House by BoschCapdeferro Arquitectures, inthe Catalan city of Girona anhour’s drive north-east ofBarcelona, occupies a denseurban site in the old JewishQuarter, or ‘Call’. On a slopethat descends to the nearbyOnyar River, the project partrehabilitates a gothic house thathad suffered over a century ofneglect to recreate a home forthe architect’s family. The planis arranged around two exteriorspaces, a deep stone entrancecourtyard housing a beautifulgothic stone staircase and ahigher level garden courtyard.These stone excavations formthe hubs around which domesticrooms are arranged, each incor-porating fragments from theoriginal architecture – portals,windows, disappearing staircas-es, the remains of chimneys. Thearchitects have deftly added lay-ers of stuccoed walls, encausticand ceramic tile finishes andfabric sunshades that adjusteach space to provide the com-fort and character befitting newuses. The strong colours andpatterns of the tiles added to theentrance courtyard create a min-eral garden to compliment thenature of the higher garden, aspace that joyfully celebratessocial encounter.

These three projects form partof the current exhibition ofCatalan and Balearic Islandarchitecture at the VeniceBiennale entitled, ‘Vogadors’.They are presented beside six

Above, below The 167 sq m house inBunyola, Mallorca, by Francisco Cifuentes(b, 1977) is constructed from standardmaterials – thermal clay blocks for wallsand prestressed joists with ceramic topslabs for floors, topped with a 40mm layerof veneer plaster dusted with white cement.

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David Kohn is the principal of David KohnArchitects. He has taught at ETSAV inBacelona and his current projects includean apartment in the city’s Barrio Gotico.

further projects by the youngergeneration of architects and 20projects by their forebearsincluding Coderch, Torres andLapeña, Josep Lluís Mateo,Carlos Ferrater and EnricMirrales. Together they confirmthe ongoing vitality of architec-tural culture in the region andthe continuity of concerns bothspecific to their context and abroader international, mod-ernist project. Furthermore, thepresence of a playfulness in thework, a flexibility in the assimila-tion of different influences, alsosets it apart from a straightfor-ward return to critical regional-ism and the dangers ofparochiality and cultural intro-version. As such, the work pro-vides a welcome antidote to theoften stylistic preoccupations ofmuch mainstream Europeanarchitecture and reconfirms thevalue of research into both thespecific and the universal social,tectonic and environmental conditions that surround us.

Left, below Collage House in Girona,designed by Bosch Capdeffero (RamonBosch, b. 1970 and Bet Capdeffero, b. 1974). The 1,515 sq m refurbishmentand extension of an existing buildingcost €2m. The house negotiates a largestep in the section of the site and isarranged around two internal courts.

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