Memory of Project.
OKE is the new Ortuella Culture House, in the former mining area of Vizcaya. Today there is no extraction of iron sulfate. The valleys that previously received rusty sand dunes, now pile groups of metal ships lacquered in polygons. Everything has been erased, and there is no trace.
We have been lucky enough to build there, where a main street and a square can be joined. OKE looks from side to side through a road, as far as possible, to see and be seen from a distance in a precise approach maneuver.
It is a concrete structure that alternates bays of 380 and 750 centimeters, defining the empty space – filled space, where the program is finding its place to facilitate storage and different activities. It is a flexible organization for predictable and unpredictable uses of the house of culture. Each bay defines its own section.
Shaping the volumes that define the building to respond to the different topographic levels that delimit the place. From the topography of the valley, the roofs are displayed as facades.
Completing a new urban route where existing exterior spaces connect with different activities in the library, square and street.
Working with the topography to define two different access and uses that are set by the program. The parking entrance from the existing one on the square, can give direct access to Catalina Gibaja street (height 0.00 m).
Allowing the Multipurpose Room to function independently, with an access of 3.35 m as part of the new plaza, where different activities can be developed, although the rest of the building is closed.
We knew about the scale of the underground infrastructures. We wanted to build something that was there long ago, before the absurd polygons.
Text: aq4 arquitectura.
CREDITS:
Main architects: Ibon Bilbao España, Jordi Campos Garcia, Caterina Figuerola Tomás, Carlos Gelpí Almirall.
Team collaborators: Iván Pena, Alberto Berga, Javier González, Albert Duque, María Ruiz, Mónica Molas, Alessandra Sirianni, Marta Milà.
Promoter: Ayuntamiento de Ortuella.
Builder: UTE Urioste.
Date: 2011 (Finalization), 2008 (Initiation).
Project: New Culture House and Library in the mining area.
Surface: 3.480 m2 (Built), 930m2 (Urbanized).
Budget: 3.348.656 € (PEM).
Site: Calle Catalina Gibaja, Ortuella. Vizcaya, Spain.
