Javier de las Heras Solé's premises in the project are formalized with volumes; one of them is dense and closed in itself, located on the ground floor and intended for the day center and social premises, and the rest are light, permeable and mobile, located on the upper floors, understood as containers that slide over the previous one.
The ground floor closes to three patios, with three different sizes depending on their use and generates an interior street parallel to Francesc Femenías Street, dividing the floor into two areas with two different entrances. The upper floors are organized in a U shape, fulfilling the premise of offering sea views in all homes.
The materiality of each block maintains the established premises, with the use of marés on the ground floor and plaster, lime mortar, wood and glass on the upper floors. Furthermore, the roof of the day center is understood as a façade for the users of the residential area, so it is resolved as a flat, landscaped roof with the minimum possible maintenance.
Residential building of 57 houses by Javier de las Heras Solé. Photograph by José Hevia.
Description of project by Javier de las Heras Solé
The site is located on the corner of Cuba street and Antoni Picornell square in the Es Molinar neighborhood of Palma.
The immediate surroundings are degraded and the urban fabric has yet to be consolidated, but it has great potential due to its privileged proximity to the port of Es Portixol, the beach and the seafront promenade of the Es Molinar neighbourhood.
In the competition phase we defined the urbanization of the surroundings by using a grid, a pattern marked by strict orthogonality. With the same formal premises of orthogonality, without concessions, the bases for the new building were proposed.
Once the program has been analyzed, it is proposed as a starting point that the day center and the premises should be on the ground floor and that all the dwellings should occupy the upper floors (pb+1,2,3). Another conditioning factor that will mark the strategy of the spatial organization is that due to the proximity of the sea and the possibility of being able to enjoy its view from a certain height, all the dwellings will have to be able to see the sea. It also coincides with the best orientation with respect to sunlight.
With these two premises - of elementary logic - the clear separation of uses is manifested, which will also be reflected at a formal level. The ground floor (day social center-social premises) is understood as a dense, self-enclosed, heavy, immobile volume that forms part of the terrain and the upper floors (housing) as light, mobile, open volumes that slide over the previous one.
Residential building of 57 houses by Javier de las Heras Solé. Photograph by José Hevia.
Ground floor.
Day center -only enclosures are executed, not distributions or finishes-.
-Inner street.
Parallel to Francesc Femenías street, an interior street structures the whole floor in two parts producing two accesses. The main one, on Cuba street with a space reserved for temporary parking or ambulance parking and a secondary access linked to the new development.
-Patios.
The new center is closed on the outside creating a new interior landscape defined by the image of the courtyard. It is not understood as a single space around which the whole program revolves, but rather a sequence of three courtyards of three different sizes according to their uses. These courtyards provide the best possible conditions with regard to sunlight, noise and wind -embat-.
4 social premises and 2 commercial premises.
On the façade where the continuity of Guayaquil street is foreseen -north- four social premises are grouped together. The two remaining ones facing the future pedestrian street.
Residential building of 57 houses by Javier de las Heras Solé. Photograph by José Hevia.
Floors 1, 2, 3.
Housing.
The day room center and the social premises form a single solid body of horizontal proportions that becomes a platform on which some pieces slide and are arranged as housing containers. These are positioned in the most logical way, taking into account orientation, sunlight, views, etc. They open out to the south in the form of a large, open-plan building. They open towards the south in a U-shape to ensure that all the dwellings enjoy sea views.
Roof floor.
Two roof levels can be considered, that of the day center and that of the dwellings.
The roof of the day center becomes a new façade for the users of the dwellings, so a flat, landscaped roof with the minimum possible maintenance is proposed.
The material used for the ground floor is marés -Mallorca stone-, and for the upper floors materials such as lime mortar plaster, wood and glass.
