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Architects: Radiz Arquitectura
- Area: 490 m²
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:Alejandro Gómez Vives
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Lead Architect: José Morales
Text description provided by the architects. Brea de Aragón is a city that represents the so-called "empty Spain." The population of Spain is fundamentally concentrated on the coast and in some inland cities such as the capital Madrid and Zaragoza, leaving enormous extensions between these areas with the lowest population density in Europe.
The Aranda region, named after one of the rivers that pass through it, was one of the finest shoe-making areas, and that tradition continues today. Yet, the change in world production has plunged this activity into a profound depression in this field. Brea needed an endowment that would house the musical and folk passions of his neighbors and provide new services to the municipality.
Likewise, there was a municipally owned warehouse, formerly an old shoe factory, with great architectural interest but neglected and with some of its values hidden. As a result, the decision was made to combine the two issues to accommodate the uses mentioned in the warehouse.
Given this context, the project consists of two parts: The first one is the pre-existing facility. It has a very strong personality, and therefore we have only tried to value its building elements: traditional brick, round ashlars wooden trusses. This piece houses the main uses of the building as Theatre and Cinema. In this conservative strategy, all the original apertures remain.
Most of them are preserved as is, including their characteristic metal latticework, and some of them undergo modifications according to their new function to become doors and to communicate the nave with the new hall. In this preserved envelope, the house leans against a slope facilitating access for the entire public. On this plane, the seats are arranged in staggered order to enable visibility.
The interior treatment of the house is premised on constructive sincerity so that the preserved elements, such as the trusses, are related to the new ones, such as floors, and opaque curtains for the windows' ventilation circuits, which have a significant presence.
The second piece is newly built and attempts to highlight the restored building by contrast. This is materialized through an organic geometry that expresses the circulation of the building: stairs, views that are framed, entrances, etc. It is built with ceramic skin with a texture in two directions that gives the building a very characteristic look.
This piece houses the auxiliary uses of the main piece: access and lockers, toilets, and the lobby of the room with a small bar. The major challenge was the dialogue between these two elements. "The new companion" leans against, embraces, walks away, approaches, contemplates, and penetrates the pre-existing building, making it the absolute subject of the intervention. This is a step towards the productive and constructive past of Brea de Aragón to build momentum and equip the city with an endowment for the future.
