University of Psychology and Speech Therapy of Malaga by Llps arquitectos. Photograph by Javier Callejas Sevilla.
Project description by Llps Arquitectos
The architectural proposal presents a new contextual conception by closely adhering to the plot subject to intervention, resolving this urban area of the Campus Extension. Furthermore, it proposes a radical solution of dividing the program into two bodies: one suspended, white ceramic and hermetic, housing teaching, research, and faculty activities; and a glassy and permeable body in contact with the ground, hosting all the public functions of the Faculty. Thus, the idea of a large architectural tree or forest emerges, where teaching and learning take place among its branches.
Consequently, the building complex perfectly adapts to the setback perimeter of the plot on its southern-western slope, rising to free up space and reproduce, with the scale of the building, the same characteristics and urban solutions of its urban planning geometry.
The release of the plot consists of two clearly differentiated parts: the eastern part, through a transparent pavilion of a height housing the common areas of the program, and the western part, including the covered outdoor relationship areas. These areas are connected by a large uncovered light garden that links the covered exterior part with the glazed internal part of the entire access floor area. The elevated part of the building will host the development of the rest of the teaching uses of the program, such as lecture halls, seminars, research laboratories, and faculty offices.
University of Psychology and Speech Therapy of Malaga by Llps arquitectos. Photograph by Javier Callejas Sevilla.
Outer skin
The purpose of the exterior cladding of this forest is to emulate the leaves of a tree that, moving with the sun, capture different qualities and natures of light, generating a crucible of sensations and luminous and material aspects ranging from natural glazed appearance to more metallic or even stone-like tones at moments of tangents of sunlight. In this way, all the ceramics together resemble a muscle that contracts and expands, maintaining the balance of the entire building body, as if it were the skin of a snake. This universe of lights was achieved through careful and technological work in the factory and trials of concave morphology and development of matte enamels in conjunction with the final geometry and its grouting.
The 9.5-meter, compact, and elevated edge closes to the outside and, at the same time, opens to its interior through courtyards distributed evenly throughout the building, organizing the space and providing great flexibility in program distribution.
Thus, the interior space is pierced by these light courtyard-walls, providing natural lighting conditions and bioclimatic utilization to the entire building. The entire program is crossed by light courtyard-walls that connect the covered and exterior lower level with the upper level open to the sky, promoting all convection currents and climatic conditions that the climate of the South presents.
LLPS ARQUITECTOS is an architecture study composed of the partners Eduardo Pérez Gómez and Miguel Ángel Sánchez García. Miguel Ángel Sánchez García is an architect from the Architecture Polytechnic of Madrid. Eduardo Pérez Gómez is an Architect from the Architecture Polytechnic of Madrid and a Design Associate Professor.
They have been guest professors and have imparted conferences at the Universities of Harvard (EEUU), the Polytechnic of Milan (Italy), the University of Nairobi (Kenya) and the University of Addis Abeba (Ethiopia) and others on a Spanish national level. Their work has been awarded eleven first prizes, among those; four on an international level stand out: the Multi-Purpose Palace of Gran Canary, the Psychology Faculty of Malaga, and recently the Intermodal Railway and Buses Complex, as well as the International Exhibition of the Spanish Pavilion in the Venice Biennial of Architecture in 2000.
They have developed works in different areas and programs, it should be pointed out: the Spots and Multi-Purpose Palace of Gran Canary, the Third-Commercial Hybrid Complex in Madrid, the Social Centre of Almoguea, a Block of social, private and single-family flats on a national level, as well as third and industrial Complex in developing areas. Their work has been displayed in many countries such as EEUU, Canada, Brazil, Chile, Turkey, Sweden, Belgium, Italy and France.
