T-Vréx | Spain
17 februari
Project: T-Vréx, Zaragoza // Spain
Architect: MSM Arquitectos S.C.P, Zaragoza // Spain
Fabricator + Installer: A32 System, Zaragoza // Spain
Façade System: Tray panels on bolts
Year of Construction: 2023
Product: ALUCOBOND® PLUS urban Anthracite
Photos: MSM Arquitectos
Courtyard calling card
Traditionally, the ground floor of buildings in Spanish cities is occupied by shops and restaurants, and then closely packed blocks of flats are set on top of them. This is the case not only in the city centre but also in the outskirts so that the typical city skyline does not form a gentle downward curve towards the perimeter; it breaks off abruptly at the point where urban meets rural. While high residential density ensures that most of the rows of street-level shops are busy, the picture is different in the quieter side streets. Often the shopfronts in these streets are anything but welcoming: they are protected by closed security shutters, bricked up or converted into garages and daubed with graffiti. The old working-class district of Las Fuentes in the Spanish city of Zaragoza also suffers from this predicament. In areas where simple social housing blocks built of brick and reinforced concrete were added to the old “barrio” from the 1960s onwards, the ground floor looks dismal and menacing. But it does not have to be like this. In the southern part of Las Fuentes, where Zaragoza meets the fields, a new residential district is being built and with it a new gateway to the city. MSM Arquitectos, a local architecture office, has found a successful solution to the problem: it simply omitted the ground floor. The architects designed an angular new building containing 46 apartments, which is set on concrete supporting columns. Only the entrances to staircases and a few ancillary rooms are on the ground floor level. The result is an area under the building with shady communal patio space and an unobstructed line of sight from the street to the tree-lined inner courtyard with its playground and swimming pool. There are different ways to access one of the flats in T-Vréx, as the project is called. The property offers full accessibility via a garden gate at the rear or, alternatively, via the staircase entrances located on the side facing the road. No matter how you approach the building, the tempting shared patio attracts both guests and residents: it is the building’s calling card and a transition between a public thoroughfare and private apartments. Although it will take some time before the young trees in the courtyard provide significant shade, the covered patio area encourages people to meet up with friends and neighbours. It already provides communal areas which are shielded from view and from the sun. The building façade also plays a role in counteracting the bleakness of this urban space and the stigmatizing image of the red-brick social housing. The striking white plaster façade has structuring elements in glass, wood and in ALUCOBOND®urban Anthracite. These frame the rows of windows and balconies, creating a profile characterised by recesses and projections on all sides of the building, where shadows can glide across. Thanks to the ALUCOBOND® and frosted glass around the balconies, the residents are protected from both the midday sun and prying eyes. In an area where the population density is high, privacy is a must because this the only way to create good neighbourliness coupled with a lively, social urban space.