A space for learning. Aulario Arenals, Miguel Hernández University by Grupotec

Description of project by Lola Romera, Marta Clavera y Francisco Mansilla

The construction of the new teaching block "Arenals" responds to the demand for educational spaces requiring by the Miguel Hernández University Campus of Elche. This is a multipurpose building of 8,671 m², with an extensive program spread over three floors. On the ground floor are concentrated spaces of more general and public use, such as the cafeteria, auditorium, computer and multi-purposerooms. On the first floor are located the teaching rooms, nine large classrooms with capacity up to 220 people. All these classroom shave a prefabricated staggered system for the arrangement of the tables. On the second floor are located the teaching laboratories.

According to the University planning, the building should have a dimension of 90x40 meters. To try not to generate a very heavy volume, it was decided to raise the closed volume of first and second floor over a free and recessed ground floor.

The materiality of the building should be integrated with outer space, so we'd get minimize their impact with in the Campus. We chose to use a prefabricated system of light weight concrete facade GRC Stud-frame. With this solution for facades and a prefabricated plasterboard interior wall, we had the proper methods to satisfy all thermal and acoustic requirements. The color and texture of the GRC are given by the land where the building is settled, a mix between earth and the ochre colors of the gardens, combined with the roughness of concrete lined foot pathssits.