The glass factory “La Trinidad” was founded in 1900 and was in operation until 1999. The industrial architecture itself, with its large warehouses and chimney, will generate a high quality public and cultural space. The dwellings will enjoy a space that will bring together a multitude of artistic, social and cultural activities. One of the systems used in the old factory was glass blowing. The image of the collective imagination of the process where the glass is still hot and mouldable serves as inspiration to give our new architecture a material connection with the history of the place.
This is why we propose to use coloured opaque glass finishes on the façades, trying to extend history to the new contemporary architecture. These glass facades generate an interesting play of reflections and also give a very technological and luxurious look to the houses.
The architectural proposal is based on 3 buildings that form 3 volumes in a closed block interrupted, on the one hand, by a vertical and continuous “crack” on all floors that leaves an open passage to the interior of the block, being this the main access and, on the other hand, a second subtraction only on the ground floor that forms a secondary access to the interior of the block. These 3 buildings are located in the plots of land identified as R2, R3 and R5 according to the PERI that develops the urban area.
Formally, we can highlight that the three volumes have the same bay widths, being 11.70 m and 7.50 m. This dimension allows us to easily intersperse pass-through and non-pass-through typologies of 2, 3 and 4 bedrooms. In the interests of good marketing, we have avoided as far as possible the placement of 4-bedroom dwellings on the ground floor and 2-bedroom dwellings on the third floor (or attic floor). Under this premise, there is only one 2-bedroom dwelling forming part of the penthouses on plot R3. On the other hand, the 3 and 4-bedroom dwellings have been placed mainly on the South and East orientations so that the larger dwellings enjoy better sunlight.
At a general level, we have arranged 3 vertical communication cores in each building which, by means of a system of galleries, provide access each to at least 3 flats per floor. Each core consists of a lift and an evacuation staircase. Typologically, the pass-through dwellings will mainly have the daytime rooms facing the outside of the block, while the night-time rooms will face the tranquillity of the interior space. All dwellings will have large terraces of at least 2.00 metres in depth, mainly serving the living rooms and kitchens. The kitchens, especially in the 3 and 4-bedroom typologies, have the possibility of being open to the living room or independent.
The ground floor of the 3 buildings will be elevated 1.20 metres above ground level in order to increase the privacy of the dwellings, on the one hand, and to achieve natural ventilation of the garages, on the other. Programmatically, also on the ground floor in the three buildings we find a community room for the enjoyment of any activity or meeting of neighbours, as well as the meter cabinets associated with the cores and mailboxes next to the main entrance.
The penthouses will have large terraces under a pergola. This element, which will be recurrent throughout the proposal, will have an important compositional and aesthetic weight in the building. Above these penthouses is the communal “Infinity” type swimming pool, raised 1.10 metres. Next to this pool there is a toilet and a solarium and relaxation area. In addition to this space for enjoyment, there are spaces for clotheslines, solar panels and machinery.
The 3 buildings will have two basement floors for parking, storage and facilities.
In terms of the number of dwellings, parking spaces and storage rooms, the 3 blocks or buildings are distributed as follows:
The R2 building has 40 dwellings, 9 of which will be distributed on the ground floor (4 2-bedroom and 5 3-bedroom dwellings),
11 on the first and second floors (2 with 2 bedrooms, 7 with 3 bedrooms and 2 with 4 bedrooms) and 9 on the third floor or attic (5 with 3 bedrooms and 4 with 4 bedrooms). On the other hand, there will be 80 parking spaces (2 per dwelling) and 44 storage rooms (1 per dwelling and 4 more).
The R3 building has 38 dwellings of which 9 will be distributed on the ground floor (5 with 2 bedrooms and 4 with 3 bedrooms), 10 on the first and second floors (2 with 2 bedrooms, 5 with 3 bedrooms and 3 with 4 bedrooms) and 9 on the third floor or attic (1 with 2 bedrooms, 5 with 3 bedrooms and 3 with 4 bedrooms). On the other hand, there will be 76 parking spaces (2 per property) and 44 storage rooms (1 per property and 6 more).
The R5 building has 38 dwellings of which 9 will be distributed on the ground floor (4 with 2 bedrooms and 5 with 3 bedrooms), 10 on the first and second floors (2 with 2 bedrooms, 5 with 3 bedrooms and 3 with 4 bedrooms) and 9 on the third floor or attic (5 with 3 bedrooms and 4 with 4 bedrooms). On the other hand, there will be 78 parking spaces (2 per dwelling and 2 more) and 46 storage rooms (1 per dwelling and 8 more).
The interior spaces of the block are resolved with planters (small bushes and trees), benches and small extensions for the enjoyment of the neighbours. These planters will serve as a green buffer to provide greater privacy to the ground floor dwellings.
