Vora Arquitectura has accustomed us to an architecture austere, sometimes dry, but filled with something that reconciles us to the architecture itself, an architecture what arose from need, minimalism or simplicity architectural, programmatic and functional. The projects by Vora Architecture do not give concessions to the excesses and yes to extreme optimization.

Architecture is clearly naked, full of extreme poetic and draws you as in previous projects. We now show 30 subsidized tenements in Ibiza. Ah! The project was awarded the architecture prize of Ibiza and Formentera.

The building is comprised of 30 social housing apartments. It forms a line along the narrow extended site, whilst adapting to the land's slope and to the maximum volume allowed by city-planning regulations.

The totality is fragmented into a loose set of independent elements which distribute the plot into three strips. The central strip, which is withdrawn in relation to the street, has flats in two linear blocs that differ in regards to dimension and height. The strip adjacent to the street contains the services, accesses, and staircases. The third strip contains no construction work and is to be used as private gardens for the ground floor flats. Underneath the buildings there is an underground parking lot and storage cubicles.

The central block of flats stands out among the group due to its striking volume, as well as its regular and abstract prismatic structure, which is surrounded by railings that delimit the plot surface and contains the services area. There is a sole prismatic body that rises with its access staircase and which makes tangential contact with the passageways that allow access to the flats.

The flats are flanked on both sides by two wide, open, and covered galleries. One of them is the passageway that allows access to the flats and the other is a balcony that is oriented towards the south. The flats are all open-ended and permeable from one façade to the other, which allows for good ventilation and lighting, and at the same time they are well protected from the sun thanks to the shadow filter created by the south-facing balcony.

As to materials and construction, we aimed for a direct and simple structure. It is an arcaded structure made out of concrete with a one-way steel framework and enclosures. The ventilated façade is finished with painted wood and cement panels that are nailed onto wooden strips. The services elements and the staircase differ from the flats themselves by their use of materials. They are constructed using concrete load-bearing walls without any added layer.

The two elongated façades display the artwork of artist Anke Blaue, which is a subtle play of coloured strips painted onto a dark grey background. The colours change depending on the façade, and they create different effects depending on how the sun rays strike the wall. The colour palette (modified and intensified) is typical of the modest architecture that can be found in Ibizan buildings from the 1970s, tonalities such as ochre and earth that traditionally conceal the traces of rain in dry climates. The paint is mineral-based and has been applied in diluted form using broad brush strokes, and this creates a chromatic irregularity that brings it closer to the observer and reminds us of nature and earth.

CREDITS

Adress.- Carrer des Jondal 7-13. Eivissa
Surface Area.- 3.170  m²
Project.- 2008-09
Construction.- January 2010 – September 2011

Architects.- vora arquitectura (Pere Buil and Toni Riba).
Project Team.- Eva Cotman, Ondrej Fabian
Structure.- Bernuz-Fernàndez Arquitectes
Services.- Quadrifoli gestió integral de projectes
Budget control.- SCO (Guillem Llorens)

Building coordination architects.- vora arquitectura (Pere Buil), Victor Beltran
Building Technical architect (control execution).- Vicent Serra
Building Services coordination.- ITEC ingenieros (Tobías Riera)
Contractor.- Ferrovial
Client.- IMVISA (Iniciatives Municipals de Vila s.a.)

Artist.- Anke Blaue

 

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vora (in catalán, limit, edge): f. Parte extrema donde termina una extensión superficial, que toca a sus límites.  I   f. En heráldica, línea que limita el escudo.   I    f. Tierra que hay a ambos lados del mar, de un lago, de un río.
f. Parte extrema de una prenda de ropa doblada y cosida.   I   vora elàstica Parte extrema de una prenda de vestir de punto, constituida per una banda de características diferentes del cuerpo de la prenda.   I   f. pl. Agujeros de los cartones jacquard correspondientes a las agujas destinadas a tejer los bordes de la prenda.

a la vora  loc. adv.  A poca distancia, cerca.   I   a la vora de loc. prep. Cerca de.

vora arquitectura was founded in 2000 in Lisbon. Since 2011 they are two independent offices, one located in Barcelona, with two associates Pere Buil and Toni Riba; and Jordi Fornells in Lisbon. They studied at the Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura de Barcelona [ETSAB], 2000.

They work on building and urban design projects of different scales and typologies. Their built work to date has received several awards and been published in specialized magazines all over the world. Their approach to design and the building process is both abstract and material. They are interested in reduction and materiality as a response to present challenges. They are also interested in traces as the remain of memory and its impact to collective identities.

Some of their most relevant works to date are the Can Ricart Sports Center in Barcelona (Bonaplata Award 2007, arquia/proxima 2010 selection, A+ award 2011), a single-family house in Almeria (ARCO Young Architect Award 2006-07), the urban design of La Salut Old Town, in Badalona (including the Market square) and an apartment refurbishment in Gracia neighbourhood (arquia/proxima 2012 selection, FAD awards selection) among others. In construction they have a a doctor surgery in Paüls, Catalonia, and the urban design of the Born surroundings, former Central Market in Barcelona.

They combine our professional work with teaching and curation. Pere Buil is currently teaching at ETSALS (URL, Barcelona) and has been assistant professor at the Masters Program in BIArch (Barcelona) 2010-11, and Taller Vertical Workshop at ESARQ (UIC) 2010 and 2012. He's been curating “Estacions Transformadores” talks 2008-10 and currently “Sensitive Matter: Young Catalan Architects” exhibition, exhibited in Lisbon, Coruña, Berlin and Barcelona since 2010. Toni Riba has been curator of “Initiating Projects” international symposium in Barcelona, 2010.


 

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Published on: December 18, 2012
Cite: "30 subsidized tenements in Ibiza" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/30-subsidized-tenements-ibiza> ISSN 1139-6415
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