Cristalleries Planell Civic Center

Cristalleries Planell Civic Center
© Adrià Goula

CRISTALLERIES PLANELL CIVIC CENTER

H Arquitectes

ARCHITECTS
H Arquitectes

PHOTOGRAPHS
Adrià Goula

AREA
1694 m²

YEAR
2016

LOCATION
Barcelona, Spain

CATEGORY
Adaptive Reuse, Cultural Center

This public facility houses an adult education centre, a language standarization consortium and a hotel on a triangular plot in the Parliament district.

Two of the three sides of the site area defined by the heritage-listed frontage of the former Planell glass factory, built on Calle Anglesola in 1913.

Cristalleries Planell Civic Center
© Adrià Goula
Cristalleries Planell Civic Center
© Adrià Goula

The building makes use of the entire plot, acting as an intrinsic part of the urban landscape, although the triangular shape and the classified façades prevent it from occupying the entire site.

The programme is distributed across four levels which are set back from the south-facing heritage facade.

The resulting atrium reconciles construction and heritage, improves the natural lighting for the classrooms and provides a heat and sound barrier. 

Cristalleries Planell Civic Center
© Adrià Goula
Cristalleries Planell Civic Center
© Adrià Goula

This long, narrow courtyard is reproduced at the northern vertex, which exhausts the geometry but acts as a relational system between the administrative uses of the building and the exterior.

The building section shows how it controls and manages the air under natural conditions.

Cristalleries Planell Civic Center
© Adrià Goula
Cristalleries Planell Civic Center
© Adrià Goula

In winter, it is necessary to control heat loss due to air renewal, redeem the heavy internal load built up due to the inertia of the wall structure, and draw fresh air in from the atrium, which thus acts as a natural air recycle.

In summer, the heat has to be dissipated by moving the largest possible volume of air and fresh air must be strictly natural, based on solar chimneys and caps that apply the Venturi effect.

Cross-ventilation between the courtyards is ruled out by the programme and the need to avoid conflicting noises.

Cristalleries Planell Civic Center
© Adrià Goula
Cristalleries Planell Civic Center
© Adrià Goula
Cristalleries Planell Civic Center
© Adrià Goula

The building therefore gives each strip of usage space a long structural break where the air circulates vertically, ‘pulled upwards’ in the chimneys by the power of the sun, which also give the building a silhouette and a distinctive, transparent materiality.


Cristalleries Planell Civic Center
© Adrià Goula
Cristalleries Planell Civic Center
© Adrià Goula


Cristalleries Planell Civic Center
© Adrià Goula
Cristalleries Planell Civic Center
© Adrià Goula
Cristalleries Planell Civic Center
© Adrià Goula


Cristalleries Planell Civic Center
Climate Diagram


Cristalleries Planell Civic Center
Facade
Cristalleries Planell Civic Center
Section


Cristalleries Planell Civic Center
First Floor Plan
Cristalleries Planell Civic Center
Roof Plan
Cristalleries Planell Civic Center
Ground Floor Plan
Cristalleries Planell Civic Center
Location