Architects Felipe Pich-Aguilera and Teresa Batlle completed the large community centre San Bernabé in Monterrey, Mexico. The project is conceived as a group formed by different volumes organised along a street which transmits and tries out civic values inherent to the urban structure of the neighbourhood.

The project for the community center of San Bernabé offers a building-street in which the specific uses of the functional program will be located in dispersed volumes, arranged along a guideline, thus configuring a street that will function as such and that is really the heart of the project.

Description of project by Pich-Aguilera Arquitectes

This building-Street is conceived as a framework for the relationship and the expression of individuals and the community, so that it will be getting stronger as the citizens start to discover it and living freely in it too. In addition, it attempts to bind with the web of existing neighborhood streets, prolonging therefore their most common routes and giving priority to pedestrians over the traffic.

This street built within, acts like the backbone of the built bodies that house the functional program of the community center and responds to an urban vision as a whole, in this sense its journey is punctuated by three spaces of quite a length which may be called squares, each one of them linked to an adjacent activity.

On the other hand, the whole project was conceived as a bioclimatic infrastructure which tries to obtain its levels of comfort by combining the local natural resources, both climatic and material ones, leaving the contribution of conventional machinery as a complementary provision to meet only extreme heat spikes throughout the year.

The project includes an allocation for renewable energy production, integrated into the architecture from the system of "solar beams" that make up the shade structure of the squares.

Beyond the scope of the community center itself, the project aims to reflect in an open way about its limits in time and space, as befits for an urban structure.

Finally, note that the architecture of San Bernabé Community Center explores a look that will be able to transmit the dignity of civic compromise than the building itself represents as well as its presence in the middle of the city should contribute to the dissemination of the values that drive it.

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Architects
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Felipe Pich-Aguilera Baurier, architect and Teresa Batlle Pagés, architect.
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Design team
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Team leader.- Pau Casaldàliga, architect, Ángel Sendarrubias, building engineer.
Project leader.- Margherita Aricó, architect.
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Area
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Building area.- 3317 m².
Plot area.- 27.552,36 m².
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Budget
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Building cost.- $73.900.000 MXN.
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Benefited population
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100,700 people.
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Photography
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Jorge Taboada
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Pich-Aguilera Arquitectes. Founded in 1986 by the architects Felipe Pich-Aguilera Baurier and Teresa Batlle Pagés, it focuses mainly on sustainable architecture projects. The effort, in this sense, has led them to develop planning, promote innovation, research and development projects and delve into aspects related to the sustainability of their buildings, basing their work on the principles of the circular economy and well-being with minimal consumption. Thus, the study not only focuses on the development of projects but also has transversal areas that take care of quality, innovation and sustainability.The current complexity and precision of their work have led them to be one of the first firms to incorporate the BIM model into their projects and the ISO9001 certification.

Since 2010, Picharchitects/Pich-Aguilera has strengthened its international presence by opening an office in Monterrey, Mexico. Since 2022 Picharchitects/Pich-Aguilera reinforces its national presence with a new office in Madrid to expand its area of activity throughout the national territory. The studio has received numerous awards for architecture and environmental innovation. Among the most recent, it is worth highlighting: 2020 First Prize for “Ascer” architecture for the “Research Center of the Hospital de Sant Pau and la Santa Creu”. 2018 Castilla-La Mancha Sustainable Construction Award for the "Leitat Technology Center."

The studio's success lies in its multidisciplinary approach, being composed of a team that encompasses disciplines such as innovation, sustainability, industrialization, and circular economy. This synergy between different areas allows them to tackle projects from a global perspective, ensuring innovative and sustainable solutions.

Felipe Pich-Aguilera Baurier. Doctor architect. Graduated in 1986 by the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Speciality in Construction. Member of the Group EASA (European Assembly of Students of Architecture). Participants in the Congresses in Denmark (1984), Greece (1985), and Finland (1987). Founder member of ASF-E, the Association of Architects Without Borders from Spain. Professor of projects and director of the core subject of Sustainability.

Founder Member of the Young Catalan Architects Association (AJAC) and instigator of the activity “Meetings-Dialogue” in the Association. Founder Member of the Superior School of Architecture of the International University of Catalonia ESARQ/UIC. President of the school councils (1996-1999). Fourth-Grade Professor (since 2008). Professor of architecture and sustainability Fourth-Grade. Director of environmental and industrialisation investigation area. Founder Member of the grouping “AuS” (Architecture and Sustainability) grouping integrated into the School of Catalonia Architects.

President GBC (Spanish president of the International Initiative for a Sustainable Built Environment and World Green Building Council), from 2008 to 2017. Director of the Chair of industrialized building and environment (CEIM). Member of the Environment of CEMEX. Since 1996, Felipe gives courses and conferences in workshops and masters in Schools of Architecture and institutions related to sustainability in constructive process and respect for the environment in Catalonia, Spain and worldwide.

Teresa Batlle Pagès. Architect. Graduated in 1989 from the School of Architecture at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Specialization in services and conditions. Member Group of EASA (European Assembly of Students of Architecture). Attends the Congress of Denmark(1984), Greece (1985), and Finland (1987). Founding member of the Young Architects Association of Catalonia (AJAC). Founding member of the School of Architecture at the International University of Catalonia ESARQ / UIC. Coordinator of Teaching 2nd Cycle Plan (1997-1999). Coordinator of the Professional Council. (1996-1999).

Founding member of the Association AuS, Architecture and Sustainability of the College of Architects of Catalonia. Founding member of the Architecture and Sustainability Association (ASA), driven by the Superior Council of Colleges of Architects of Spain (CSCAE). Member of the Board of the 22 @-network and association of innovative companies with headquarters in the 22 @ Barcelona. Vice President of the association AUS (architecture resources of Catalonia). General Secretary of the association ASA (resources i architecture of Spain). President of the Scientific Committee of ASA. President of the Commission of environment of the association Network22. Coordinator since 1997, round tables and debates on industrialization and the environment.

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