Inner paradise rooted in memory. Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico
28/11/2023.
[Bañares] Spain
metalocus, CRISTINA RODRÍGUEZ
metalocus, CRISTINA RODRÍGUEZ
The architecture studio Atelier Atlántico has designed Patio for Elena, located in the small municipality of Bañares, about 45 km west of Logroño, in La Rioja, northern Spain.
The project responds to the need to create an indeterminate space that functions as a constant threshold between interior and exterior, inspired by the Perystilum, a large interior patio surrounded by colonnaded and landscaped porticos, and exploring the typology of the traditional patio house.
The project responds to the need to create an indeterminate space that functions as a constant threshold between interior and exterior, inspired by the Perystilum, a large interior patio surrounded by colonnaded and landscaped porticos, and exploring the typology of the traditional patio house.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Site plan. Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico.
Ground floor plan. Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico.
Ground floor plan. Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico.
Section. Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico.
Section. Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico.
Axonometry. Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico.
Project strategies. Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico.
Concept image. Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico.
The Patio for Elena designed by Atelier Atlántico is based on its location within the urban area to decide to consolidate the edge that serves as the limit of the plot while the center empties, leaving the geometry of the family winery inherited from the client.
Another of the strategies used in this project was to link sky and earth, so a heavy wall is built that emerges from the earth and a light wooden cover that floats on the concrete uprights that provides shelter to the rooms located in its interior.
The new space is built taking into account the material and typological memory of its past. In this way, a lime mortar mixed with sandstone powder from La Rioja is used and it is applied by passing the trowel in favor of the lime and against it. This results in a unique toasted tobacco color with a typical appearance of traditional Rioja architecture or with a rough finish reminiscent of the old faces of the ashlars of holes and baseboards.
Another of the strategies used in this project was to link sky and earth, so a heavy wall is built that emerges from the earth and a light wooden cover that floats on the concrete uprights that provides shelter to the rooms located in its interior.
The new space is built taking into account the material and typological memory of its past. In this way, a lime mortar mixed with sandstone powder from La Rioja is used and it is applied by passing the trowel in favor of the lime and against it. This results in a unique toasted tobacco color with a typical appearance of traditional Rioja architecture or with a rough finish reminiscent of the old faces of the ashlars of holes and baseboards.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Project description by Atelier Atlántico
Located in Bañares, La Rioja, the patio for Elena answers to the need of creating an indeterminate space that delves into the depths of the typological transformations suffered after the COVID-19. This new place is confirmed as a constant threshold between interior and exterior. A sort of Perystilum that explores the typology of the traditional patio house in the country, extracting from the built memory of the site a series of relational guidelines that help to configure an interior paradise.
The exercise recognizes, first of all, the physical conditions of the plot in which it is inserted. This new space is located on the inner edge of the consolidated urban area of the population and, therefore, must create an architecture that builds a limit and a wall. With this premise we remember the client’s first intentions, who dreamed of an interior paradise rooted in the memory of her village and her grandfather’s grocery.
These conditions, together with the physical characteristics of the place, offered us a series of operations to carry out. The first of the strategies was to consolidate the edge and to clarify the center. This space subtracted from the total mass of the plot responds to the projection and geometry of the existing construction inherited from his own family, grandfather Julián’s winery. Likewise, due to the irregular geometry of the plot, it is decided that the void will be regular, establishing a hierarchy and order in the structural elements that will configure the center of that patio. Lastly, the remarked topography of “las suertes” area makes the exercise have a dual scale, establishing itself as a construction with a friendly scale to the outside, and doubling its space when experiencing the interior.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
Once the first actions have been decided, the next of the strategies will link heaven and earth. Two complementary construction operations are proposed. A gravid wall that belongs to a stereotomic and heavy type that emerges from the earth, and a light wooden structure, floating on the concrete columns.
The new architecture is proposed through load-bearing walls that consolidate the program on the outer edge. On the north the access is placed, which is reached by descending a steep slope that has a flared hollow, linking the Hermitage, Church and patio. On this same wall, but facing South, two climate-protected spaces are responsible for providing shelter inside. The bathroom, kitchen and other complementary uses consolidate the construction on the western limit, configuring a self-absorbed architecture that observes the exterior garden landscape through two openings. To the east, the existing construction, the grocery, connects with the new space, executing a staircase and opening a single opening to link interior and paradise. A series of recovery operations are carried out on this construction; The enclosure is repaired by applying rendered lime mortar and troweled without mastering, in addition to a new mini-wave sheet that prevents the entry of water and provides a scalar sense to the whole.
Patio for Elena by Atelier Atlántico. Photograph by Federico Cairoli.
The new space is built looking at the material and typological memory of its past. For this, a lime mortar mixed with sandstone powder from La Rioja is used, which offers its unique toasted tobacco color. The mortar is applied with two techniques, the first of which passes the trowel in favor of the lime. Therefore, the stone material remains underneath, showing “the good face” of the mortar, which is reminiscent of the the windows ashlars in traditional La Rioja and Castilla architecture. The second of the techniques carried out operates in the opposite direction. In this way, the sandstone dust settles on top, consolidating a rough appearance that recalls the old faces of the ashlars that build holes and sockets.
The structure, carpentry and cabinets are made entirely of “pino radiata” wood from the Basque Country. Likewise, the limestone that makes up the perimeter countertops or the stone slabs of the flooring comes from La Rioja itself, so all the materials that our context has at its disposal are used.
The patio for Elena aspires to build an architecture that configures a kind of physical memory of the location. An architecture that, using shadow as a resource, configures a typological and materially unexpected space for Bañares.
More information
Architects
Atelier Atlántico. Lead architects.- Mario Galiana Liras, German Muller.
Area
427 sqm.
Dates
2021-2022.
Location
Bañares, La Rioja, Spain.
Photography
Germán Müller Calace, Mario Galiana Liras. Atelier Atlántico
Atelier Atlántico is an architecture workshop located in Logroño and Santa Fe founded in 2017 by Germán Müller Calace and Mario Galiana Liras. It is defined as an architecture studio with two polar opposite cultural roots separated by an ocean. As such, the workspace is understood as a workshop where simple architectural answers to complex problems are sought.
It is a workshop dedicated to the design, theoretical and teaching practice of architecture, understanding this as a place where ideas are built and materialized through a non-linear work process that interweaves the three worlds seeking to return to the elementary architectural foundations. It uses the history and imagination of the material as a formal construct using simple geometries, which seek order in the structural serie of elements that define the space through the material itself and its rules.
The practice seeks a concrete answer in the memory of each location, place or space, investigating their cultural, material and historical vestiges, for the definition of specific objects and understanding architecture as a response to the cultural, social and economic reality of the moment. The projects reduce architecture to what is expressly essential, seeking materially clear and honest structures. In this way, a response is found to the projects proposed through the use of current craftsmanship, exploring the specific constructive knowledge that surrounds it.
Germán Müller Calace. Architect from the FADU of the Universidad de Nacional del Litoral (2010). Master in Architectural Design from the ETSA of the University of Navarra (2016), which he accessed after winning the FAPYD Rosario Scholarship in 2015.
Since 2021 he has participated as Head of Practical Work in TPA 1 and 2 Mendiondo professorship “Horizontal Workshop” of the FADU-UNL.
He worked in the Secretary of Architectural Works of the Municipality of Santa Fe in the development of projects and public works that have received national and international awards (2011-2019). He served as Executive Coordinator of Urban Heritage for the City of Santa Fe (2020-2022).
He has been part of DLS arquitectos as a founding partner (2010-2016). He has collaborated in studio MADe (2015-2017). He has won several awards and mentions in national and international competitions.
Mario Galiana Liras. Graduated Architect at the ETSA University of La Coruña (2012), where he was graduated with distinctions in his final Project degree, and with the special award University of La Coruña. Postgraduate degree in Advanced architectural design by the ETSA University of Navarre (2016). PhD in architecture, with a thesis titled ¨Matter strategies. The architecture of Material imagination¨(2020), ETSA UNAV. Special Award PhD in Applied Creativity on the ETSA UNAV.
Since 2016 he has been teacher assistant in Composition Elements and architecture studios I and II. In 2020 he began as a lecturer in architecture studios III and IV at the ETSA of the University of Navarre. At the same time, he has been the founder together with Víctor Larripa of the 20 UNDER 40 conference series. He is currently in charge of the conference cycles in the ETSA of the University of Navarre.
He has worked with Carlos Pita arquitectos, with studio MADe in India (partner 2015-2017) and Emilio Tuñon Arquitectos. He has won several awards and prizes in national and international competitions.
It is a workshop dedicated to the design, theoretical and teaching practice of architecture, understanding this as a place where ideas are built and materialized through a non-linear work process that interweaves the three worlds seeking to return to the elementary architectural foundations. It uses the history and imagination of the material as a formal construct using simple geometries, which seek order in the structural serie of elements that define the space through the material itself and its rules.
The practice seeks a concrete answer in the memory of each location, place or space, investigating their cultural, material and historical vestiges, for the definition of specific objects and understanding architecture as a response to the cultural, social and economic reality of the moment. The projects reduce architecture to what is expressly essential, seeking materially clear and honest structures. In this way, a response is found to the projects proposed through the use of current craftsmanship, exploring the specific constructive knowledge that surrounds it.
Germán Müller Calace. Architect from the FADU of the Universidad de Nacional del Litoral (2010). Master in Architectural Design from the ETSA of the University of Navarra (2016), which he accessed after winning the FAPYD Rosario Scholarship in 2015.
Since 2021 he has participated as Head of Practical Work in TPA 1 and 2 Mendiondo professorship “Horizontal Workshop” of the FADU-UNL.
He worked in the Secretary of Architectural Works of the Municipality of Santa Fe in the development of projects and public works that have received national and international awards (2011-2019). He served as Executive Coordinator of Urban Heritage for the City of Santa Fe (2020-2022).
He has been part of DLS arquitectos as a founding partner (2010-2016). He has collaborated in studio MADe (2015-2017). He has won several awards and mentions in national and international competitions.
Mario Galiana Liras. Graduated Architect at the ETSA University of La Coruña (2012), where he was graduated with distinctions in his final Project degree, and with the special award University of La Coruña. Postgraduate degree in Advanced architectural design by the ETSA University of Navarre (2016). PhD in architecture, with a thesis titled ¨Matter strategies. The architecture of Material imagination¨(2020), ETSA UNAV. Special Award PhD in Applied Creativity on the ETSA UNAV.
Since 2016 he has been teacher assistant in Composition Elements and architecture studios I and II. In 2020 he began as a lecturer in architecture studios III and IV at the ETSA of the University of Navarre. At the same time, he has been the founder together with Víctor Larripa of the 20 UNDER 40 conference series. He is currently in charge of the conference cycles in the ETSA of the University of Navarre.
He has worked with Carlos Pita arquitectos, with studio MADe in India (partner 2015-2017) and Emilio Tuñon Arquitectos. He has won several awards and prizes in national and international competitions.
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