CENTER FOR THE MENTALLY DISABLED “INTRAS”
Located on a steep and elongated slope facing a public park, the project involves construction of the building of the Foundation and a municipal open sports court; it is located in a peripheral environment where generic housing blocks, single family self-built houses, and agricultural buildings in process of abandonment, coexist.
We establish a semi-buried plinth that evens the ground and organizes the various entrances to the building. On it emerges a screen of the same material, which states its uniqueness to the park, where it dematerializes into a deep facade split into different planes, where a series of terraces and spaces used as filters are responsible for providing the south facade with its mentioned character. Large terraces appear, along with cantilevers that provide shade on the enclosures. Those accompanying longitudinal balconies frame the views, as well as the landscape, from the architecture.
The supporting structure of highly textured concrete is designed with the intention of highlighting these spatial and perceptive characteristics; it participates in the set of filters and sequence of screens that define the building. It is equally perceived both from the exterior and from the interior. Its counterpoint is established by the blue and white polycarbonate skin, capable of solidifying and filtering the natural light that illuminates the interior spaces.
This meditated economy of materials with which the center is built, is characterized by its durability and easy maintenance. “Low technology” building systems allow us to develop a passive, energy efficient strategy from simple principles, like the accumulation of heat in walls with a high thermal inertia, facade ventilation through filtration in joints, cross ventilation in circulation areas with controlled dimensions, etc… We have only required a careful construction.
