On 31 January, the team from Mateo Arquitectura met planners from Bayonne City Council to present phase one of the Tête de Pont project.

The Tête de Pont project is of great importance to the city, not just in terms of size (around 70,000 m2 of floor area) but also for its role as the new gateway to Bayonne. It stands on the urban front of the river Adour in the vicinity of Henri Grenet Bridge, and its programme, laid out in two city blocks, comprises social and free-market housing, a shopping centre, a hotel, a home for the elderly, a small office sector and a car park.

This phase will include the central part of the project, focusing on the urban planning of Henri Grenet Bridge, for traffic, and the walkway situated beneath it, allowing pedestrians access to the city centre without having to cross the busy road.

More information about this project here.

This 26 January sees the opening of the exhibition “ARQUITECTURA ESPAÑOLA 1975-2010. 35+ CONSTRUYENDO EN DEMOCRACIA” (Spanish Architecture 1975-2010. 35+ Building in a Democracy) in the Sala Zuazo at the Arquerías de los Nuevos Ministerios in Madrid (Paseo de la Castellana, 67). The show will run till 1 April 2012.

Among the projects on show are two by Josep Lluís Mateo: the Miquel Martí i Pol vocational training centre, together with Eduard Bru, in Santa Coloma de Gramenet (1983) and the Eusebi Millán sports centre in the Pla d’en Boet district of Mataró (1985).

The exhibition previously travelled to the Benaki Museum in Athens (Greece) in the month of April 2010 and to the Leventis Museum in Nicosia (Cyprus) in the month of June 2010.

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Phase two of remodelling work on El Ninot market in Barcelona is nearing completion.

This phase involved the excavation of the market’s basement floors, producing two new levels to house 100 parking spaces, a self-service facility (1,500 m2), a loading bay of approximately 1,000 m2 and storage units for both the market and the self-service facility.

The construction of these two new basement floors has raised the market, and a provisional structure has been built to support it until work on the foundations is complete.

See more about El Ninot Market here.

The extension of the Head Office of PGGM Insurance Company in Zeist (Utrecht, Holland) receives the NAN Prize for the Best Project Abroad by a Spanish Practice.

For the second year running, Mateo Arquitectura has been awarded the Prize for the Best Project Abroad by a Spanish Practice in the Fifth NAN Prizes for Architecture and Construction. On this occasion, the winning project is the extension of the Head Office of PGGM Insurance Company in Zeist (Utrecht, Holland).

The high level of competition this year gives added value to the award; the Fifth NAN Prize attracted a record number of projects submitted to the architecture category, with 170 projects presented by 97 practices all over Spain.

The awards ceremony took place on 1 December at a well attended gala held at the Hotel Arts-Ritz Carlton in Barcelona.

This time, his mission consists in unifying the system of entrances to the building, which currently has two: the main entrance on Avinguda Diagonal, and the employees’ entrance on Carrer Balmes.

By simplifying these two entrances to form just one, the whole area will gain in importance, and the employees’ entrance will cease to be a gloomy out-of-the-way place. Another advantage of the project is that it involves maximum optimization of energy consumption.

In this intervention, as in the previous ones, Josep Lluís Mateo maintains continuity with the principal elements of both the original building and the later remodelling for which he is responsible. The project therefore retains the three existing areas on the ground floor: the light central zone; the black area, which was previously the employees’ entrance; and the yellow area, a place of transition that separates the other two.

This new project centres on the black and the yellow spaces. The black area is a dark space, with subdued lighting and dark materials such as black marble. In the yellow space, conversely, the lighting and materials such as wood create a warmer atmosphere. By way of a new feature, this final area will incorporate a double pillar with a safety curtain to separate the spaces in the event of fire to prevent it spreading.

To ensure a free-flowing dynamic connection between these three spaces, a platform will be built to raise the lowest spaces on this level to place them all at the same height.

Other interventions in Banc Sabadell Tower Block in Barcelona.

“[…] The main constraints of the site were the street, the inner courtyard and the adjacent elements. The site’s relation with the street suggested that the building should fold to protect the sidewalk in a very striking urban gesture: you move alongside the building and, at the same time, beneath it. It is a contemporary version of the old porches. The building provides refuge, protects you and then gently lets you go as you pass. It also opens up on the ground floor, connecting you with the garden at its centre which, though not big, is very lovely. The top line of the building is not horizontal; it slopes, adapting to the different heights of its neighbours and increasing the dynamism of the vanishing point. Evidently, the program too presented constraints, producing some singular results. It called for flexible generic office space that will adapt to future users. […] The mechanical installations incorporate all the latest advances, and the design integrates them rather than merely attaching them to the building. This is particularly striking in the roof, where the slope of the building is used to accommodate all the machinery. Technology is present but invisible.”

Josep Lluís Mateo, November 2010

Josep Lluís Mateo was taking part in the “Rendez-Vous des Architectes” (in the framework of BATIMAT, the International Construction Fair, Paris, 7-12 November) last 10 November. He was giving a talk entitled “Façade ‘pliée’, alliance des matériaux et intégration à l’environnement: le défi géométrique et technique de l’immeuble de bureaux La Factory (Ile Seguin, France)”.

For more information: www.batimat.com

See more about The Factory here.

Last September, Mateo Arquitectura, together with the French practice Dominique Perrault Architecture, presented a proposal for the project to urbanize Îlot P in Lyon Confluence, to the south of the city of Lyon. This competition forms part of the process of urban remodelling being conducted throughout the Lyon Confluence area with the aim of leaving behind its industrial past. The project involved the urban development of a city block (Ilôt P), including housing, comercial areas and offices (laid out in two buildings), and landscaping.

The project developed by Mateo Arquitectura and Dominique Perrault Architecture comprises: building A devoted principally to housing, though there is also a small office section, and building B, which houses offices and shops. One of the principal project requirements was sustainability, so the roofs and façades accommodate solar and photovoltaic panels to optimize energy consumption.

Building A, designed by Josep Lluís Mateo, is bounded by the railway line on one side and a street leading to the city centre on another, and overlooks the river. This location influences the layout inside the building, with the apartments overlooking the river and good views, whereas the offices look out towards the railway line.

The apartments are given the maximum flexibility of space to adapt to individual needs. This flexibility is reflected in both in the structure and layout of the building, which situates the smallest dwellings on the lower floors and the larger maisonettes on the higher floors; and in the individual homes, which offer occupants a wide variety of possibilities. All the apartments have a loggia or winter garden, a small glazed garden that can be enjoyed all year round.

In the offices, the spacious work areas are situated at the front of the building, with meeting rooms and relaxation areas for the workers in the interior spaces.

The principal materials used are concrete, glass and wood. Concrete is present in the building’s structure and façades, using light tones that evoke the local stone in the façade of the dwellings. The use of glass serves to optimize energy, with photovoltaic panels inserted into some of the windows. The glazed projection in the main façade, housing the loggias and winter gardens, provides solar protection. Finally, wood, found in the claddings, door and window frames, and the floors of the loggias, provides a warm atmosphere.

More information here.

More information about the Remodelling of the main branch of Banco Sabadell in Barcelona.

More pictures here.

Architectural Papers V: After Crisis. Ed. Chair of Prof. Dr. Josep Lluís Mateo, ETH Zürich. Lars Müller Publishers. Switzerland 2011.
ISBN: 978-3-03778-230-9

Architectural Papers V concentrates on the new conditions for architectural practice and the epistemologies that may inform it now that the financial bubble has collapsed and living and working conditions have significantly changed.
Essays, studies, and interviews, along with a selection of illustrative projects, tackle the actual issues of growth and shrinking, economy and ideology, craftsmanship and social space in the city, and materiality and sustainability in architecture.