Vaumm + Taper designed the project for the urban connection and improvement of accessibility in the San José neighborhood, located in the historic center of Zumaia, in Gipuzkoa, north Spain.

The project sets aside the idea of minimal connection and generates generous aerial streets and uneven trays that become new public spaces for citizens.

The solution of two walkways on different levels connects a vertical articulator with the immediate environment of a nursing home, guaranteeing its direct relationship and accessibility. The other section descends gently towards the slope and becomes a new room of pause and calm.
The urban elevator and public space in Zumaia by Vaumm + Taper, solves a vertical connector for the five different levels of the geography of the place, proposing a central plaza as a space of enjoyment for the neighborhood, projecting the parking lots below it.

The importance of the project's geometry takes advantage of its dimensions and qualities so that instead of directing people orthogonally, they give freedom to more fluid and brittle movements. Generating new visual and sensory sequences between the catwalks.

A series of interconnected objects of free movement and the predominance of contemporary materials, concrete and steel, that combine with each other to give a structural rigor that covers wood to be the intermediate material between architecture and the residents of San José.
 

Project description by Vaumm + Taper

The project stems from a contest of ideas called by the Zumaia city council with the intention of improving accessibility to the San José neighborhood. This neighborhood, located next to the old town, is characterized by its narrow streets and its great unevenness, as well as lacking important public spaces.

The proposal, already in the competition phase, proposes to solve the accessibility of the neighborhood by means of an urban elevator that, using the core of the existing tower in the residential building, connects up to 5 different levels and, at the same time, takes advantage of the new flows of circulation to reconfigure the public space around them.

Two footbridges are projected for this. The upper one, just over 28 meters, connects the elevator with the surroundings of the San Juan residence. In order to guarantee accessibility to the senior center, it is extended with another section of about 27 meters in length, which running on the slope and 4 meters wide, serves as a terrace and outdoor pause area.

In the lower area we find another footbridge, smaller in size, around which a square is created that serves as a small lung for the neighborhood and that houses covered parking spaces under it.

Taking into account the magnitude of the intervention, the geometric implementation of the proposal is taken care of with the aim of causing the least possible impact. To do this, the lower area works with the fold of the slabs, generating a plaza at two heights that moves away from the houses and enables better sunlight.

In the case of the upper catwalk, the piece with the greatest impact, a structural system was chosen to save the light as lightly as possible. Its broken geometry also contributes to reducing its impact and, in addition, allows generating new visuals. Again, this walkway does not exclusively try to connect two points, but with its variable section, wider in the central section, it aims to look out over the roofs of the houses, appearing as a viewpoint towards the urban core and towards the sea.

As for the finishes, a reduced palette of materials has been used which, on the other hand, are closely linked to the function they perform. Thus, the use of concrete predominates - lower area and in contact with the ground -, steel - on walkways and ironworks - and wood - as a covering material and mediation with the user.

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Architects
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Collaborators
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Quantity Surveyor.- Julen Rozas Elizalde.
Engineering.- Garuz Engineering.
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Builder
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Altuna y Uria.
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Area
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700 m²
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Dates
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2019.
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Venue/location
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San José neighborhood, Zumaia. Gipuzkoa. Spain.
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Photography
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vaumm is an architecture studio based in Donostia-San Sebastian, founded in 2002 and led by Marta Álvarez Pastor, Iñigo García Odiaga, Jon Muniategiandikoetxea Markiegi and Javier Ubillos Pernaut that combines teaching and professional practice under a common architectural vision. Since its creation, Vaumm has stood out for developing projects that integrate architectural design with the urban and landscape context, exploring how architecture can establish a dialogue with its environment and respond to the social and cultural needs of each project.

The Vaumm team also carries out intense research work, with some of its members being professors in the Department of Architectural Projects at the San Sebastian School of Architecture (ETSASS), and participates in other universities as critics and lecturers in academic and professional contexts. This connection with the academic field enriches their professional practice, allowing them to explore and share knowledge in a transversal way.

Their methodology is based on research and experimentation, carrying out an exhaustive analysis of the place, the environment and the required functions. This allows them to develop designs that, in addition to being functional, give an aesthetic and symbolic value to the spaces they intervene in. Each Vaumm project receives personalized attention, with continuous research that incorporates the notion of transformation over time.

Among their built works, the Basque Culinary Center in Donostia, the rehabilitation of the Zarautz palace in Getaria to transform it into the Elcano museum space, or the reform of the Luzuriaga industrial building in Pasajes stand out. In addition to projects in the cultural field, their work also includes the design of public spaces, social housing and rehabilitations. Their work has been recognized with numerous awards in competitions and has been selected for the Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism, the Mies van der Rohe European Union Contemporary Architecture Awards and the COAVN Awards in various categories.

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Taperstudio Arkitektura is an architecture firm lead by Jon Ander Azpiazu Juaristi and Unai Gómez Arriaran in which  professionals of different fields collaborate.
 
Based in Bilbao since 2015, TAPER offers services both to private clients and public administration. These services go from urban planning to  public space and equipment projects, residential projects, new works and rehabilitation.
 
They propose a creative and functional architecture. A green, environmentally committed, architecture.  In close communication with their clients, they are present at every stage, handling the whole process of each work.

Jon Ander Azpiazu Juaristi (Bilbao,1984). Architect graduated from the University of the Basque Country in 2009, he also studies in Florence (Univesitâ Degli Studi), Barcelona (UPC) and Madrid (UEM), where he completes the Master of Advanced Techniques in Architectonic Projects. Before starting his own professional project, he collaborates in several architecture firms such as VAUMM (Donostia), SSARK (Stockholm), ARUP (Madrid) or ACXT-IDOM (Bilbao). In 2015 he cofounds TAPER arkitektura together with Unai Gómez Arriaran. In 2019 he finishes the Master in Wood Structures, Construction and Design  (UPV/EHU)

Unai Gómez Arriaran (Donostia-San Sebastián, 1984). Architect graduated from the University of the Basque Country in 2010, he also studies in Granada and Napoli. During his first professional stage he collaborates in several architecture firms such as Abar arquitectos (Barcelona), VAUMM (Donostia) and OPEN architekci (Warszawa). In 2012-2013 he finishes the Master in Urban Planning at Cataluña´s Polytechnic University (UPC), in Barcelona. In 2015 he cofounds TAPER arkitektura together with Jon Ander Azpiazu Juaristi. He is Passive House Designer from 2019.

 
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Published on: June 11, 2020
Cite: "Between folds and brittle walkways. Urban elevator and public space in Zumaia by Vaumm + Taperstudio" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/between-folds-and-brittle-walkways-urban-elevator-and-public-space-zumaia-vaumm-taperstudio> ISSN 1139-6415
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