The architecture studio Romera y Ruiz Arquitectos has designed the Casas stacked building, located on Calle Lola Massieu, municipality of Telde, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The project won the II Miguel Martín-Fernández de la Torre Architecture Prize, awarded by the Official College of Architects of Gran Canaria (COAGC).

The proposal is developed through the concept of stacking, fitting concrete modules as vertical tubes, and organizing the space using immobile boxes that cover changing areas inside. The building houses a housing program, commercial premises and a garage in an area of ​​3528 m² built.
The design team of Romera y Ruiz Arquitectos included a square on Calle Lola Massieu, with landscaped rooms and urban furniture at the disposal of the users of the building and the premises on the ground floor; the garages and part of the basement are developed under the surface of said square. The west façade is oriented towards Gofiones street, where the circulation of the project is located to mitigate the solar incidence, the corridor that serves the private spaces is transformed into a street in the air, with small patios through which currents pass vertical air.

The materiality of the building is mainly composed of exposed concrete in facades and circulations, a characteristic that is combined with color to create nuances and tones that change with the position of the sun, energizing the relationship of the project with the place.
 

Descripción del proyecto por Romera y Ruiz Arquitectos 

According to Semper´s classification, stacking is a humans primitive activity. This 25 sustainable dwelling project follows this principle and aims to build by stacking concrete tubes of almost square section (3.65x3.20m.) which, as printed circuit bases, will contain all the fixed components of each unit. Equipment of this initial structure is carried out with simple elements, allowing multiple alternatives that are determined by, or rather, motivated by the existing systems within the initial infrastructure. From the most basic systems (water supply, drainage, electricity, ventilation system...) all the way to telephone and internet connection, the tube can house all the terminals that would turn this shelter into a communications station; this might be the most significant housing quality this century. The idea of a simplified hierarchy and a greater complexity of use (living room kitchen-dining room) is carried out in each house. Just as in chess, the interior of a house should maintain the uncertainty of each game. The outer static box leads to other interior boxes. Light and almost woven boxes that change position and adapt accurately to the required function. The hierarchy comes down to two categories: private areas and common areas, the latter being the ones susceptible of having greater alternatives.

The favourable amount of sunlight in the city of Telde allows the design of deep terraces to provide shade, like the traditional deep roof eaves from the Japanese architecture. The concrete tube – dwellings´main framework  - creates a horizontal patio which due to its lay out and exterior enclosure, it is conceived as a single space, overlooking the Plaza (square) on Lola Massieu Street, as a horizontal projection of the façade. The deep terraces act as a brise-soleil allowing glass enclosures. The horizontal tube is inhabited by vertical planes that function as light diaphragms. These vertical planes range from the total opacity that allows the projection of slides to a complete transparent glazing. The house benefits from the direct sunlight that comes in through both façades.  Thanks to its single space, light travels through the entire dwelling reaching the interior patios next to the entrance of each house.  From here, light is scattered through the open corridors that overlook Gofiones Street, enhancing the sensation of submerged linear spaces, which receive direct light shaded by the vertical coloured concrete diaphragms tinting the light in different hues as the day goes by. The interior of the dwellings are gently filled with the light that slides down through the luminous fissures.

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Architects
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Romera y Ruiz Arquitectos.- Pedro Romera García, Ángela Ruiz Martínez. 
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Design team
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Architects.- Carlota Ardanaz Petit, Yudit Barreto Martín, Paula Cabrera Fry, José M. López Cabrera, Carlos Marrero Macías, Ester Marrero Pérez, Rosalba Santana González y Carla Santana Perdomo. Technical architect.- Juan Manuel Peláez Hernández.
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Collaborators
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MEP.- Constantino Juan Gonzalvo Ortiz (CQ Ingienieros y Asociados).
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Builder
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Las Maguas 2008 Construcciones S.L.
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Developer
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COFITAL QUINCE S.L.
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Area
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Total area.- 3,528 sqm. Site plan.- 862 sqm.
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Dates
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2019.
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Manufacturers
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Anodized composite aluminum panel finished STB-M01 MIRROR.- Cortizo.
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Location
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Lola Massieu nº4, Telde, Telde, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Spain.
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Photography
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Pedro Romera García. Professor of Architectural Design at the School of Architecture of Las Palmas since 1999. Member of the Research Heritage and Landscape Project.

Ángela Ruiz Martínez. Professor of Landscape Architecture from 2004 to 2008, and Architectural Projects (academic years 2009/2010, 2011/2012) at the School of Architecture of Las Palmas. General coordinator of the Second Biennial of Art, Architecture and Landscape of the Canary Islands, and member of the Island Historical Heritage Commissions of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, from 2001 to 2005.

Togehther they founded in 1999 the architecture office ROMERA Y RUIZ ARCHITECTS SLP in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria after having worked separetly in professional offices at both national and local level. They have developed different projects, planning documents, and participated in numerous cultural activities.

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Published on: February 9, 2021
Cite: "Concrete and color games. Stacked houses building Romera y Ruiz arquitectos" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/concrete-and-color-games-stacked-houses-building-romera-y-ruiz-arquitectos> ISSN 1139-6415
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