PAC – Personal Activities Capsule

150% competition. Fundación Caja de Arquitectos grants, 2008.

With 150% the foundation proposed to work on an existing city to find new solutions in order to increase the population but saving the city ground.

The answer to that is the CAP or PAC, Personal Activities Capsule, a cube that lives like a good parasite in the existing buildings of Santa Catalina, a neighbourhood of Palma de Mallorca.

Municipal Archive and History Museum in Sallent (VII – park)

Master thesis. July, 2008.

18 Sallent_Park

On a lower level from the basement of the building, but 3 meters up from the Riereta, there is a piece of land that can be connected to the village streets with a staircase. Then, the Park of the Riereta is created.

The piece of land is in fact the remains of the city walls. It was the limit of the village of Sallent before 1912, when the Torres i Amat school was created.

Opening this space to the population would be a way to rediscover existing stone structures, but it also would improve pedestrian mobility.

19 Sallent_Park, paths

The most important points for distributing the park are the Archive and Museum building on the west side and an historical stone structure with an unknown use on the east.

It’s also important the study of the existing trees and plants, in order to get a new garden but with the typical vegetation of the zone.

20 Sallent_Park, pavillion

The stone volume on the east side of the park is transformed into an open pavilion for exhibiting sculptures on its ground floor. Its roof can be used for concerts, theatre, cinema… and also as an entrance to the park.

Municipal Archive and History Museum in Sallent (VI – installations)

Master thesis. July, 2008.

14 Sallent_Air conditioning

The village of Sallent has a Mediterranean climate, but in some cases it is slightly continental because of its central location.

Humidity is the result of the proximity to the Llobregat River. In addition, the project is near the Riereta. Although it is not always filled with water (only when it rains), it has permitted the growing of trees and other plants.

Wind is not very important. The urban structure is formed by narrow streets and its buildings have similar heights that protect the houses from the north wind. The back façade, opened to the south, is protected by the Xipell hill. The park is on a level lower than the surroundings, so it also remains protected from the winds.

The building looks at the Riereta, on the south and east. Meanwhile the worst orientations, north and west, correspond to both streets, Portalet and Clos.

The walls are made of irregular stones. The thickness of them is between 70 and 40 cm. They are studied and its interior transformed according to the Spanish laws, the CTE DB-HE1, Limitación de la demanda energética.

15 Sallent_Plumbing and drainage

The water pipes distribution tries to avoid the archive spaces in order to preserve the documents. The drainage picks up the rain to be used for watering and cleaning of the park.

And, of course, before installing the new pipes, existing ones must be completely removed, taking care of the points were they had been installed near the city wall.

16 Sallent_Electricity

Electric installation is planned to not disturb both structures, existing and new, following the line of the wood beams.

It is adapted to the Spanish law, CTE DB-HE, section HE3 Energetic Efficiency of light installations.

17 Sallent_Fire

Fire protection will be also installed according to the Spanish law CTE DB-SI.

Municipal Archive and History Museum in Sallent (V – details and structure)

Master thesis. July, 2008.

10 Sallent_Restoration details

The structural support of the building will be new columns. At some points, reinforced concrete is added to the stone walls.


11 Sallent_Details, new elements

The access door to the museum is located on Portalet street . Before the restoration, it was the door to the stables. Today only some small constructions remain. They have got no historical value, so they are demolish to build a new volume.

This will be the responsible for connecting the existing building and the city wall. But it also concentrates the hall, the space for temporal exhibitions, the lavatories and it permits to look at the surroundings from its flat roof.

12_Sallent_Structure, columns



The existing walls don’t have stability problems. But they are supposed to do not have enough strength to resist the transformation of the building, especially in the rooms of the archive. In addition, these walls are very irregular.

So a second structure is added. It is formed by iron columns as well as iron main beams.

13 Sallent_Structure, horizontal structure

In some points the horizontal structure is helped by reinforced concrete.

  

The roofs are completely renewed in order to solve the constructive problems of the existing ones. But also to eliminate the bugs that live on its wood beams, most of them termites.

Municipal Archive and History Museum in Sallent (IV – façades and sections)

Master thesis. July, 2008.

06 Sallent_A-B façades_

The main façades are simple. They are cleaned and painted, and on the base of each of them we can see the original stone wall.

The dimensions of the windows and doors are similar to most of the village ones. And most of them are the existing ones, but giving the wall surfaces a new and controlled order.

07 Sallent_C-D Sections_

The interior levels are maintained. They only grow a few centimetres because of the reinforcing of the horizontal structure.

In the museum the volume of the C room, dedicated to the industry of the village, the existing interior of the building is emptied. This is the response to get a more secure structure but also to rediscover the main walls.

08 Sallent_E-f sections_

We get rid of all the unoriginal elements on the back façade. So the wall is shown as it was on its beginnings.

09 Sallent_G section_

The top floor opens to the Riereta with a terrace protected from the north winds due to the pent roofs.

Municipal Archive and History Museum in Sallent (III – floors)

Master thesis. July, 2008.

03 Sallent_Basement and ground floor

The basement, an ancient wine cellar, is renewed to be used as a complement to the museum.

 

There are two spaces. The big one is for conferences, videos and other cultural activities. The small one is for kids, with small and mobile furniture.

The ground floor is where the users can enter into the different spaces. Through Clos Street, n.5, we can go up to the archive. Through n.9, we can visit the Riereta Park. And the access to the museum is on
Portalet street, from where the visitors will discover part of the building between interior and exterior, like a labyrinth that will guide them through the history.

04 Sallent_First and second floors_

On the first floor, the museum is keeps growing and turning around the archive. It is connected with the city wall with a little bridge that is renewed and from where the landscape can be admired.

On the contrary, the archive is closed to protect its documents that are received in this point.

The second floor turns the museum into an open space with a flat roof that is considered part of the exhibitions. From here we can “visit” the surroundings due to some explanations on the panels installed on the roof.

Meanwhile, in the archive there is space for saving the documents and for the offices.

05 Sallent_Third floor and roofs_

On the third floor the archive opens completely his walls to the sights, according to the pent roofs, so the users can relax his eyes. There’s also a flat roof working as an open rest room.

The pent roofs permit the building to adapt to the existing constructions around it.