Cuartel del Príncipe, built in 1859, is located in the San Diego Square where we also find the Chancellor Office of the Alcalá de Henares University which was the old Colegio de San Idelfonso (built in the 16th century). The project seeks to recover this historical building for changing its use into a teaching one, a common operation in the Alcalá de Henares University culture, that takes advantage of the quality of the city center for owning such a singular buildings as this one.
The project is solved with concrete platforms which are introduced inside the original brick walls for housing all the program that is needed. All the storeys are connected by double hights to avoid the excesive monotony of linear spaces and they, the different storeys, are connected by a big linear stairs which goes from the ground floor to the last level.
The original brick walls with high thermal inertia, together with a sophisticated energetic design, lead the building to obtain a energetic certification class A, combining traditional wall system with current technologies.
Description of the project by the architects
Cuartel del Príncipe (built in 1859) occupies a large block within the historic City Center of Alcalá de Henares. Its main façade forms one side of the Plaza de San Diego, where is also located the Colegio de San Idelfonso (built in the 16th century), currently Chancellor Office of the Alcalá de Henares University. After the transfer in 2005 of the barracks to the University, several proposals and projects have happened for reusing this space.
The first statement made has been to adapt the "U" midships from the first courtyard, corresponding to the main façade of the building, to the new installation for CRAI (Resource Centre for Learning and Research) at the UAH. Respecting the original access hall, the ground floor is divided into two parts: an access area, reception and customer service, and a reserve space for the future installation of a museum and exhibition area located over the excavated and protected ruins from the chapel of San Diego y del Convento de Franciscanos (built in the 15th century).
On the upper floors, the central body is solved by concrete superposed platforms that form a continuous space which is connected by a linear stair. The different levels are communicated visually through several inner courtyards, avoiding the visual monotony of the longitudinal spaces. These open spaces, for reading and working, are likely to be divided with furniture or light screens. Inside the lateral midships are located the research offices and the support classrooms. Both spaces are separated by service cores and emergency stairs, located in external towers located in the inner courtyard.
The construction has consisted in the realization of an inner concrete structure, parallel to the original brick walls whose thermal inertia, combined with high-efficiency and renewable energy support, give the building an energy certification class A. The last storey is lightened with metal pillars and the cover is reconstructed by a mixed structure trusses, laminated wood and steel, with enclosures recycled chip panel. Both the structure and facilities have been left views, easing the maintenance work and durability. The building has been carried out with the initial budget, combining the sobriety of the original military space with the forced austerity of these times of limited public resources.
The new CRAI for the UAH is configured as the ultimate operation in the tradition of the Alcalá de Henares University in the recovery of historic buildings for educational use. Facing the last interventions, more focused on a formal and cosmetic recovery, this rehabilitation is chosen to give bigger prominence to the architectural space, handling is limited formal and constructive repertoire, also expressed with limited use of materials. The result is an open space, capable of being changed with the flexibility of the university spaces, with easy maintenance and low energy consumption and constructed with adjusted costs to the current economic situation of the public administration.
Text.- Flavio Celis and Ernesto Echeverría.
CREDITS.-
Project.- Learning and Research Center (LRC) of Alcalá University. Cuartel del Príncipe’s rehabilitation, Alcalá de Henares.
Architects.- Ernesto Echeverría y Flavio Celis.
Site management.- Ernesto Echeverría, Flavio Celis and Blanca Moreno.
Collaborators.- Ignacio Delgado and Juan Manuel Vega (execution of the works management), Ignacio Delgado (coordinator of construction work health and safety during implementation phase), ERCER. Diseño, construcción e instalaciones S.L.(facilities consultant) Juan Peral (industrial engineer), Daniel Merro (architect), ACH SLP Ingeniería, Juan Travesí (engineer), Euring Ingenieros: Felipe Cicujano (engineer).
Collaborators during the project phase.- Fernando da Casa (Oficina de Gestión de Infraestructuras de la UAH, arquitecto director), María Paniagua (architect), Lucía Díaz (drafstman), Leonor Martín, Adela García y Patricia Domínguez (students).
Promoter.- Universidad de Alcalá (UAH).
Date.- June 2012 (start), March 2014 (completion).
Surface.- 11.455 sqm.
Budget.- €13.054.000.
