The civic center, designed by the architecture studio of López+Aroca Arquitectura, was built from a previous one located in the district of Roldán, a town of just over 7,300 inhabitants, in the central west of the municipality of Torre Pacheco, in Murcia.

The old civic center had fallen into oblivion and disuse due to its age and deterioration. The architects' proposal, in addition to rehabilitating the building, transforms it and updates its image to turn it into a multipurpose space.
The proposal designed by López+Aroca Arquitectura proposes a differentiation of uses, spatially segregated to facilitate the use of the facilities, creating a neighborhood space for specific events and a multipurpose space for uninterrupted use.

Constructively, they created a second skin to update the image of the building and improve its energy efficiency. The exterior skin penetrates the building, defining the functions of the different spaces and at the same time allowing their change of use without being affected by a restricted materialization.
 


Roldán Civic Center by López+Aroca Arquitectura. Photograph by Pedro Noguera.


Roldán Civic Center by López+Aroca Arquitectura. Photograph by Pedro Noguera.

Project description by López+Aroca Arquitectura

Roldán is a district of Torre Pacheco with no more and no less than 7,300 inhabitants. In this town, there was a Civic Center that, due to its age and appearance, had fallen into oblivion and disuse. The city council, aware of this lack, called for a competition for its integral rehabilitation, and the project is the result of the winning proposal. Later, the project carried out was also admitted in the PIREP announcement because of the nature of the existing rehabilitation, as well as for the improvement in energy efficiency that is already inherent to a new conception of our professional work. The strategies that were developed to generate the project were the following:

Separation of uses.
An intervention in the function of the building is considered necessary to be able to have two differentiated spaces, which do not interfere and are not exclusive. Through some access pavilions, the center is divided into a neighborhood space, for specific events, and a multipurpose space for uninterrupted use.

Double skin.
The current image of the center does not correspond to that of a place with the vocation of becoming a social and cultural reference for the town. The placement of a second skin with a double function is proposed: giving a new updated image to the center and achieving an improvement in efficiency, generating inertia in the building and thickness in the openings, and generating thresholds.


Roldán Civic Center by López+Aroca Arquitectura. Photograph by Pedro Noguera.


Roldán Civic Center by López+Aroca Arquitectura. Photograph by Pedro Noguera.

Roldán Space.
The main stage is expanded to allow more comfortable use, the new access from a renovated public space allows for a friendlier arrival, as well as the possibility of using it for different uses such as having an aperitif before a graduation, flamenco performance, theater or a neighborhood meeting.

Intergenerational Plaza.
A contrast is produced with the use of different skins in the center, rehabilitating the interior space to enable relations between the day center and the civic center. The variety of the façade skin expresses the uniqueness of the place, supporting the identity values that can be generated there.


Roldán Civic Center by López+Aroca Arquitectura. Photograph by Pedro Noguera.

Outdoor.
This outdoor space has the advantage of being able to function as an extension of the center once it has been conditioned, which allows activities to be carried outside that reactivate the area when the weather is good, for example, on summer nights.

Social Exchange
In the situation of finding two centers linked to two disparate age groups, it becomes important to be able to generate places of coexistence between the two that channel relationships into an area of familiarity.

Multipurpose Space
The exterior skin penetrates the building, configuring the different functions and providing the spaces. We can condition the interiors without having to dedicate them to a single activity, which extends the functional life of the center and can change its uses at any given time.

Ceramics are present throughout the rehabilitation. The envelope is developed with Flexbrick meshes and ceramic lattice pieces, as well as glazed stoneware. Inside, all wet areas are covered with ceramic tiling.

More information

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Architects
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López+Aroca Arquitectura. Architects.- José María López, Edith Aroca.

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Collaborators
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Industrial Engineer.- Manuel Ramos Marín.
Lighting Engineer.- Francisco Cascales García.
Quantity surveyor.- Francisco Ros Meroño.

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Client
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Ayuntamiento de Torre Pacheco.

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Area
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GFA.- .- 856.50 m².

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Dates
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2023.

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Location
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Av. Balsicas, 35. 30709, Roldán, Torre Pacheco. Murcia, Spain.

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Program
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Civic Center (assembly hall, multipurpose workshops, cafeteria).

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Photography
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lópez+aroca arquitectura is an architecture studio established in 2004 by José María López and Edith Aroca as partners.

Edith Aroca Vicente is an architect from the ETSA Valencia, UPV, 2001. She specializes in Restoration and Conservation of Buildings from the UPCT in 2010. She is a professor of Drawing and Architectural Analysis in the area of Graphic Expression at the ETSAE of the UPCT, Cartagena, since 2010.

José María López, is an architect from the ETSA Valencia, UPV, 1999. He completed a master's degree in Restoration of Historical Heritage from the UPCT in 2004. He was a professor of projects at the School of Art and Design of Murcia, from 2004-2005. He specialized in Restoration and Conservation of Buildings from the UPCT in 2010. Since 2008 he is an associate professor of Architectural Projects at the ETSAE of the UPCT, Cartagena.

Awards.
- XIII Architecture and Urban Planning Awards of the Region of Murcia.
AWARD Leisure and Tourism Center in La Manga del Mar Menor, Murcia.
- XV Architecture and Urban Planning Awards of the Region of Murcia.
AWARD New Headquarters of the Official College of Surveyors and Technical Architects of the Region of Murcia
- XVIII Architecture and Urban Planning Awards of the Region of Murcia.
“Santiago el Mayor” Health Center AWARD, Murcia.
- XVIII Architecture and Urban Planning Awards of the Region of Murcia.
ON Architecture AWARD. UPCT Teaching Innovation Group.
- XXI Architecture and Urban Planning Awards of the Region of Murcia.
Disclosure AWARD. Architecture and Architects of the Modern Movement in the Region of Murcia.

Exhibition curator.
2015 Curating and Realizing the exhibition “Enrique Sancho Ruano. “Modernity in the Architecture of Murcia in the 60s” at the Official College of Architects of Murcia.
2016 Curating and Realizing the exhibition “Fernando Garrido. “On the relationship between art and architecture, between the senses and reason” at the Official College of Architects of Murcia.
2022 Curation and Realization of the exhibition “The Colonization of the Dunes. Bonet Castellana in La Manga del Mar Menor “at the Official College of Architects of Murcia.
2022 Curating and Realizing the exhibition “Architecture and Architects of the Modern Movement in the Region of Murcia” at the ETSAE, UPCT.
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Published on: December 19, 2023
Cite: "Activating resilience. Roldán Civic Center by López+Aroca Arquitectura" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/activating-resilience-roldan-civic-center-lopezaroca-arquitectura> ISSN 1139-6415
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