It seems that the wait was worthwhile... Xavier Tragant's proposal for Library and Historical Archive of Sant Fruitós de Bages has been built. Without a doubt, a magnificent building whose essence lies in transferring knowledge through symbolism of books.

Memory of project by Xavier Tragant

"Posa-li fulles" was the slogan of the project presented in the competition for the new library and archive of the city of Sant Fruitós de Bages that we were lucky to win. Beyond the joke, we wanted to evoke the idea of the transmission of knowledge through the symbolism of the books and the written pages. The building had to be at the height of what truly means a library. Actually it is our respect for what we understand by culture what should give the shape to our project.

The building hides behind their organic curves, elements that appear to be moving and structures and shapes with symbolic connotations. But after all this marked aesthetic charge a building pointing towards a radical sustainability hides. The building envelope and construction details were designed from a study that was done with the help of a dynamic simulation program of energy flows and solar cooling system based on a pergola made from solar thermal panels that was designed in conjunction with a system for lithium bromide absorption. Many of the materials speak about low-impact: timber joinery, cork insulation, natural linoleum flooring, mortars, lime- green paint, etc.

The organization of the building reflects the functional program of any current library, separating adult playground area and enabling an outer space for each area. The building was deliberately sunk in the ground and covered with a roof that reminds us the fields and banks of Sant Fruitós landscape.

Text.- Xavier Tragant

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Main architect
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Xavier Tragant Mestres de la Torre.
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Team collaborators
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Gemma Arco Campamà, Eleonora Barone, Laura Garcia Hintze, Clara Roig I Cortés, Sabine Wohlfahrt (architects), Miguel Morte Morales (architect, construction), Carles Marquès Barceló (technical architect, construction), Jasmin Castro Frenzel, Shaun Daniel Morris (architects, model). Gelpí Arroyo Estructureas, Carles Gelpí I Arroyo, Vanessa Muñoz, Marga Cerezo, Gerant-Yeray Bordón (architects, structures), Aiguasol, Jaume Salom Tormo, Dani González I Castellví, Ines Alomar Brutau (engineers, energy consultants); Gip Engenieria, Servicios I Obras, S.L.P, Pere Antentas Costa, Ignasi Gurruchaga Garcia (engineers, facilities).
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Promoter
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City of Sant Fruitós de Bages.
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Date
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2013 (final of work), 2003 (project).
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Surface
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2.071 m² (total floor area).
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Budget
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2.363.716,98 €
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Venue
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Sant Fruitós de Bages, Barcelona. Spain
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Xavier Tragant, arquitecto, desde 1995 es miembro de la agrupación AuS (Arquitectura i Sostenibilidad). Se asocia con Alfredo Arribas para la concepción del pabellón "Seat-Pavillon" del Grupo Wolkswagen (Medalla de Oro de la Bienal de Arquitectura de Miami 2003) y para la "Casa en Premià de Dalt" en el Maresme, (1er Premio en la Trienal del Maresme del 2004). Durante los últimos 15 años, focaliza su trabajo en los aspectos más ecológicos de la arquitectura, dando lugar a projecte.aiRe: una red abierta de profesionales interesados en la creación de una arquitectura de alto valor ecológico.

Desde el año 2003 desarrolla, junto a Josep Tragant y Miguel Morte, un nuevo concepto constructivo: Un innovador sistema modular que llamaran eMii, inspirado  en los procesos de producción de la industria automovilística. El sistema acabará cristalizando en la empresa Compacthabit®.

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Adrià Goula Sardà is an architect (ETSAB, 2000) and since 2004 combines architectural photography with personal works of an interdisciplinary nature. As an architectural photographer, he has completed more than two thousand commissions for renowned architects and for various public and private institutions, both nationally and internationally.

His photographs have been published in multiple magazines, monographs, books and specialized publications. In 2023 he was curator of the book Survey Barcelona, ​​commissioned by the Barcelona City Council to offer a photographic overview of the actions carried out in the city during the last eight years.

He currently teaches the Master of Architecture at La Salle Campus Barcelona – URL and the Master of Landscape Design. He was a professor at Elisava in the subject of Space Communication between 2015 and 2019, and a professor of architectural photography at the Escuela Sert of the COAC between 2010 and 2015.

His personal work is based on photography, which functions as a starting point, as notes on certain topics of interest that are later deepened and expanded through works in different formats, such as installation, sculpture, drawing or video.

He has participated in conferences, talks and workshops at different congresses and schools of architecture such as ETSAB, ETSAV, IED, Elisava, Eina, the University of Alcalá, the University of Navarra, the School of Architecture of Umeå (Sweden), the Bienal de Arquitectura de Buenos Aires 2017, the Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea and will be a speaker at the next UIA congress, which will be held in Barcelona in July 2026.

In 2011, the Esteyco Foundation published the monographic book De-Construcción, in which images of elements under construction were compared with elements under demolition, creating visual parallels between them.

Awards and recognitions.-

-His work Re-Edificatoria, about buildings under rehabilitation, was part of the Spanish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2016, awarded the Golden Lion.
-Received the Bienalba Award for Photographic Production in Architecture at the 2017 Buenos Aires Architecture Biennial.
-In 2020 he received the Silver and Bronze Lux awards in the Architecture and Interior Photography category.
-In 2021 he was awarded in the Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism in the photography section.
-An image from the Cota 0 project, about the floods in Valencia, was a finalist in the AENA25 Awards and was exhibited at Las Naves de Gamazo in Santander, while the complete project was presented at the ArtPhotoBcn26 Festival at the DHub in Barcelona with the H2O Gallery.

Exhibitions.-

-The Monochroms project was exhibited at Arts Santa Mònica on the occasion of Art Photo Bcn (2020). -Participated with the Càmera Glòries installation in the Barcelona Model Architecture Festival (May 2022)
-The multidisciplinary project Cel·la Nòmada, arising from an investigation into the cell of the Barcelona Model prison in which his grandfather was imprisoned during the dictatorship, has participated in group exhibitions at the Felícia Fuster Foundation (October 2020), at Lab36 at the Senda Gallery (June 2020), at MAC (Mataró Art Contemporani, February-March 2022), and was the subject of a monographic exhibition at the Gallery H2O (2021). It has also evolved into new proposals presented at the Lluèrnia Festival (November 2022), at the La Bianyal Festival (October 2022) and at an exhibition in Cal Xerta de Sant Pere de Riudebitlles (July 2022).
-The Dream City project has been exhibited in the Galería Antoni Pinyol (May 2023), in the Centro Cívico Pati Llimona in Barcelona (September 2023), in the DHub in Barcelona as part of the Art Photo Bcn Festival (October 2023) and in the Festival Fonament 2026 in Calonge (October 2025).

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Published on: December 4, 2013
Cite:
metalocus, SERGIO CIDONCHA
"Library and Historical Archive of Sant Fruitós de Bages" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/library-and-historical-archive-sant-fruitos-de-bages> ISSN 1139-6415
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