The intervention in the city hall of Traspinedo has consisted in a series of abstract and light elements both indoors and in the facades, generating a strong contrast with the existing materials.

The rehabilitation carried out by Oscar Miguel Ares Alvarez has recovered the structure of the former school of the town, baring its walls and showing the original materials that now contrast with the white "boxes" that define the new work spaces of the council. From the outside, the intervention is perceived in a more discreet way except by a large window that protrudes from the facade which, with an intention of civic transparency "reminds the neighbors the public function of the city councillors".

Description of teh project by Oscar Óscar Miguel Ares Álvarez

Analogy, contrast and addiction of elements were the concepts always present during the planning process of the rehabilitation of the town hall of the municipality of Traspinedo. We wanted to recreate a new urban space inside the old Republican School that during the democracy turned into the City Hall. Our purpose: make simile of streets, squares and buildings, contained in a sky composed of wooden beams and an horizon bounded by rough stone walls.

We intervened emptying the entire building, baring the plaster of the walls, eliminating the false ceilings that covered the original wooden structure. We set a new floor; limestone of Campaspero, as used in most places in the surrounding villages. We set small constructions inside the building, white, light, establishing a contrasting dialogue with the environment of stone and wood, coarse, heavy, patinated by time, which should serve as sky, ground and horizon. We designed elements that established a relationship of complementarity rather than replacement or recreation. So the new windows are inserted like drawers, without touching the existing limits; for this reason, the small constructions have abstract formal references against the vernacular condition of the enclosure; the door is retracted inward, juxtaposed, added to the lower surface of the thick wall of masonry.

The spaces between the small white constructions are treated as streets, open to the traffic of neighbors. On the first floor, the plenary hall is conceived as a large square, the agora where neighbors exert the community through dialogue. Its limits are simple: a large white wall, which rests on the wall of rough stone, houses the entire set of technical facilities; in the background, a large window behind the corporation, reminds the neighbors the public function of the city councillors: to serve a municipality that is framed behind them; a small construction. reminiscent of a housing, serves as offices for the various groups of the consistory and closes this illusionistic space reinforcing the concept of urban analogy.

Energy efficiency was also part of the project strategy. The air conditioning of a restoration is always a problem for its peculiar constructive and volumetric characteristics. The difficult conditions imposed on the air conditioning helped reinforce the idea of ​​projecting small autonomous buildings. The low budget available forced the reuse of the old existing heating system, but for a volume three times higher than the former space. The solution of separated boxes, with lower height, allowed to isolate their enclosures optimizing the performance of the equipment and getting an ideal temperature for the development of offices. The rest of the building, although is heated, maintains a more consistent temperature for conexion areas.

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Architect
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Óscar Miguel Ares Álvarez
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Construction management
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Óscar Miguel Ares Álvarez
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Implementation management
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Javier Palomero Alonso
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Collaborators
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Bárbara Arranz González, Jesús J. Ruiz Alonso, Dorota Tokarska
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Date
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Second phase June 2014
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Location
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Plaza Mayor 1, Traspinedo, Valladolid. Spain
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Area
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574 sqm
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Promotor
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Ayuntamiento de Traspinedo
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Construtor
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Aguado Núñez Construcciones SL
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Óscar Miguel Ares. Valladolid, 1972. Archtiect from School of Architecture of Valladolid, in 1998. In 2010, he obtained the title of Doctor from the University of Valladolid - for the thesis "GATEPAC 1928-1939" - being his tutor Mr. Juan Antonio Cortés. Since 2013 he is professor of design at the ETS de Arquitectura de Valladolid. He has collaborated, as visiting professor, at ETSA La Salle (Ramón Lluch University, Barcelona), at San Pablo CEU University (Valladolid) and at the School of Design at Al Ghurari University (Dubai, UAE).
 
His texts and works on architectural criticism have been published in different publications as well as by the composition and projects departments of the ETSA Madrid, UPC in Barcelona –with whom he has assiduously collaborated as editor in the publication DC Papers-, ETSA in Seville and ETSA Cartagena. He has given conferences and lectures in Helsinki, Mexico City, Porto, Pamplona, ​​Barcelona, ​​Madrid or Seville. Author of the book: "Alternative Modernity. Transits of form in Spanish architecture (1930-1936)" University of Valladolid (2016).
 
Since March 2012 he has been carrying out his professional work alone, together with the architect Bárbara Arranz, under the Contextos de Arquitectura y Urbanismo brand. As an architect he has won various competitions, his work being awarded at the XIV Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism 2018; work exhibited in the Spanish Pavilion of the XII Biennale di Venezia (May 2021); selected in XI Biennial of Ibero-American Architecture of Architecture and Urbanism Paraguay (October 2019); finalist in the 2018 FAD Awards; finalist in the 2017 Spanish Architecture Awards; selected Enor Awards (2020), Awarded with the American Architecture Prize (New York, 2017, Bilbao 2019); Awarded with the International Architecture Awards 2018 granted by The Chicago Athenaeum / Europeen (Athens, 2018); Awarded with The Plan Award, (Venice 2018, Milan 2019); more than a dozen awards and mentions at the Castilla y León Architecture Awards (2009, 2011, 2016, 2018 and 2020), as well as awarded at the Castilla y León Sustainable Construction Awards (2017 and 2018). His works have been published in numerous national and international magazines, including METALOCUS, Domus, Arquitectura Viva, Tectónica, Hic Arquitectura or Baumeister, On Diseño and he has exhibited in Madrid, Seville, Venice, Paris and New York.

Director, together with Anna and Eugeni Bach, of the XV Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism, "Empty Spain / Full Spain; conciliation strategies", forming part of the different juries of the awarded categories.


2016  2015

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Published on: March 1, 2016
Cite: "Rehabilitation of Traspinedo's City Hall" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/rehabilitation-traspinedos-city-hall> ISSN 1139-6415
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