Client

Private competition

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Data

2nd PRIZE. Restricted competition

20 dwellings and 40 parking places 

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Work

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It is really an ideas contest, which is very exceptional in both public and private housing competitions. Normally the promoter proposes a very closed program in the program, the density, the distribution criteria, the gadgets to be incorporated, the type of construction, the order of cost, etc. The most open competitions -of ideas- are usually designed for unique public facilities, or for headquarters of large corporations. We have gladly accepted the challenge that is being posed to us, because we understand that housing also requires expanding the degrees of project freedom, to develop new approaches; in this sense, we have focused on a new approach to the subject, which derives in the first instance from the recognition of the urban singularity of the plot, and a rediscussion of the concept of isolated multi-family, and of the current models to use - we have in Sant Cugat the largest repertoire of Catalonia - These reflections have led us to establish a specific model for the plot in question. In this sense we would like our project to be understood more as a model, and a way of doing, than as the exact response to the will of the promoter; consequently we would like our project to be understood as flexible, and capable of adjusting the density of homes, the priorities in the distributions, the façade materials, and naturally to introduce elements such as a space for collective use in basement, watertight barbecues incorporated into the facade, variable treatment of the terraces, from the mobile glass curtain with greenhouse effect in winter, to screen solar protections.