The architectural studio Vaumm intervened in an old school and its garden located in Errenteria, a town in the eastern part of the San Sebastián region, adapting it in scale, specialty, structure and operation to a more public, dynamic and multipurpose use than the original, since despite its successive extensions, it was a forgotten and outdated building.

The project introduces new uses to the building, making it closer and opening it up to the neighborhood, creating a new cafeteria and facilitating access to the garden, turning the surroundings into meeting spaces that favor neighborhood coexistence.

Vaumm was responsible for reorganizing the old U-shaped building into a free-standing wooden box that articulates the building's circulations thanks to a staircase and walkways that serve as a corridor, which, added to the opening of the interior to the landscape, transforms the relationship of the building with its surroundings and improves the spatial conditions, which were previously dark and closed.

The project is resolved mainly in a raw way, from brick, with exposed installations and a ceiling made of cellulose. In this way, added to the materiality of the main hall, configured as a vertical wooden box, an industrial but warm space is achieved that is put at the service of the community and its needs.

Agustinak by Vaumm. Photograph by Aitor Estévez

Agustinak by Vaumm. Photograph by Aitor Estévez.

Project description by Vaumm

The Agustinak business creation centre arose from the reuse of an old religious nursery school and its garden, from which it takes its name. The old building, built through successive extensions, had a very poor construction and a domestic organisation, unsuitable for the scale and functioning of a larger public building. In this sense, all the efforts of the project are directed towards transforming the original building to adapt it in scale, spatiality, structure and operation to a more public, dynamic and polyvalent use than the original nursery school.

The project opens up a forgotten and closed building to the neighbourhood, introducing uses such as the cafeteria and the convent's former garden as public spaces for neighbourhood coexistence. The ground floor, now signified by a wooden skin, is conceived as a meeting place, with a multi-purpose conference room and the main hall of the building.

Agustinak by Vaumm. Photograph by Aitor Estévez.
Agustinak by Vaumm. Photograph by Aitor Estévez.

Functionally, the old U-shaped building is reorganised around a free-standing wooden box, which is transformed into a vertical hall that articulates the building's circulations, thanks to a singular staircase and walkways that act as corridors.  The mono-material condition of this space, made entirely of wood, gives it an abstract character that facilitates its adaptation to different functions. This space also opens up forcefully to the garden and the landscape, transforming the relationship of the building with its surroundings and improving the spatial conditions of the interior, which was extremely dark and closed in the original building.

The original facades have been transformed in scale. The original horizontal openings have been transformed vertically by means of steel boxes that resolve the transit between the carpentry and the opaque parts. A black skin of polymer concrete with a slight striping introduces a more neutral and rigorous materiality for a public building, while at the same time giving centre stage to what is happening inside, visible through the large windows.

Agustinak by Vaumm. Photograph by Aitor Estévez.
Agustinak by Vaumm. Photograph by Aitor Estévez.

The interiors have been resolved in a crude way, with just exposed brick, exposed installations and a projected cellulose ceiling that muffles the noise. A factory space for the creation of new companies linked to creation, they will be the ones to finalise the spaces with their needs and daily activity.

In short, the transformation project saves 65% of energy and reduces the CO2 footprint by reusing the original structure, it is a project of reuse; but also of urban recycling by providing the neighbourhood with new meeting spaces, and a public facility open to multiple scenarios.

More information

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Architects
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Project team
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Marta Álvarez Pastor, Iñigo García Odiaga, Jon Muniategiandikoetxea Markiegi, Javier Ubillos Pernaut, Tomás Valenciano Tamayo. 

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Collaborators
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Quantity surveyor.- Igor Lili Arrieta.

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Client
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Errenteria City Council.

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Builder
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ESVEDRA.

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Dates
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Design.- 2021.
Completion.- 2024.

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Location
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Agustinak Etorbidea, 4. 20100 - Errenteria, Gipukcoa, Spain.

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Photography
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vaumm architects is the coincidence of several people (Marta Álvarez Pastor, Iñigo García Odiaga, Jon Muniategiandikoetxea Markiegi, Javier Ubillos Pernaut & Tomás Valenciano Tamayo) who since establishment in 2002, operate under a strategy of adding. Adding goals, hope, efforts and experiences, with a broad sense of curiosity and research-based methodology. Incorporating specialists from diverse disciplines, inside and outside the office, finally adding knowledge to present solutions. Through this changeable organization, intensifying the permanent office, multiple collaborations are carried out in each situation, crafting the best global team in every project.

Our work is dedicated to the thoughtful conception of projects and careful crafting of buildings and spaces, exploring the intersection of contemporary design and building production. The Office has worked since its establishment at many different scales from diverse angles; completed works include various new and rehabilitation building works, collaborations with artists as technical support for the realization of constructive intervention and urban planning with a cultural or theoretical view.

 

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Published on: November 4, 2024
Cite: "Transformation for the encounter. Agustinak by Vaumm" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/transformation-encounter-agustinak-vaumm> ISSN 1139-6415
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