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GEA Architects

GEA Architects

Madrid, ES

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FINALISTS: New Nursing home in Linz, Austria

PROJECT GENESIS.
The context in which the project is inserted shows a very heterogeneous origin, consisting of different building types and different uses.
The proposal requires therefore to articulate the urban environment through a flexible element.
The project provides a solution that contemplates the contact with the city and the privacy needed for this type of program, fitting closely to the requirements of the competition.

The proposed program required a great built surface and therefore a great extension of free plot. In order to achieve this, our proposal redesigns the topography, giving birth to new fluid interior and exterior green spaces which integrate with the city and its inhabitants.

INHABITED TOPOGRAPHY: PROTECTIVE MANTLE.
We proposed a big roof garden which covers the whole ground floor, which by a folding geometry and its well thought solar orientation absorbs the maximum energy during daytime and dissipates this energy during night time. The use of this topographical solution helps the transition in between spaces preventing architectural barriers for disabled people.

Similarly the new topographical geometry achieves a visual Independence of the maternal and child residence building. The vegetation and the slopes of the new terrain will give shelter, independence, quality and will visually protect this singular and private use.

The handling of the new terrain covers the organic arrangement of the ground level program with a continuous green mantle. This solution reduces the visual impact of the height of the building by one floor looking with a favour on the proportions of its elevations.


TWO BUILDINGS OPEN TO THE SOUTH.
In the process of definition of the volumes of the building we have looked for a clean and tidy geometry, in contra-position with the organic arrangement of the ground floor. Their position in the plot is thought to be in the way that none of them are facing North so that most of the sun light is captured directly. The program is solved by dividing it into two main parallel volumes connected by asymmetrical catwalks. Two white volumes which open to the South creating in between a big exterior public space benefiting from full hours of direct day light. The connection between both is not only thought to be a space of transition, it is also thought as a comfortable resting space with great views to the surroundings as well  a visual filter between the city and the private spaces of the building.

MATERIALS USED.
The materials selected for the proposal are based on a relationship established by the two main areas that define the room program: The public spaces in the ground floor are defined by the new topographical geometry characterized by green spaces, stony floorings and big rooms directly connected with the exterior. The most private spaces of the upper floors are placed in the white volumes. The openings are orientated to the south through folds in the façade. The white colour of the volumes increases the sensation of light in the interior by the reflection of sun light on the folds and it separates them from the green mantle by simple contrast.

 

TWO WHITE PIECES, PERFECTLY SHAPED, ARISE ON A BLANKET OF VEGETATION AND LIFE.
 

 
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Status: Competition Entry
Location: Linz, AT