The project by Vaillo+Irigaray Architects resolves the porch facing the square with a concrete portico, introducing an "institutional" scale to this project. Facades have continuous terraces along their entire length, camouflaging boilers or other elements that may affect the aesthetics. This is achieved thanks to an external metal structure.
The only material used is profiled sheet metal, so with this they try to simplify the project due to the complex regulations they apply to. The volume of the building is the aspect that stands out the most, with different lengths for the blocks. Bronze color gives a different aesthetic depending on sunlight, clouds and other changes in weather.
75 social housing·VPO Arrosadía by Vaillo+Irigaray Architects. Photograph by Rubén Perez Bescos.
75 social housing·VPO Arrosadía by Vaillo+Irigaray Architects. Photograph by Rubén Perez Bescos.
Description of project by Vaillo+Irigaray Architects
The project is located in a recently created neighbourhood on the outskirts of Pamplona.
The plot forms a square with adjacent buildings. The regulations require two longitudinal blocks of different heights: 2B+7+A towards the street, and 2B+4+A towards the square. The regulations also impose a double-height porch towards the square, which the project resolves by means of a concrete portico, introducing an "institutional" scale to the project.
The residential complex is resolved with scarce economic means, given that it contains social housing - Official Protection. The volumetric arrangement is divided into 2 longitudinal blocks of different heights, leaving a central courtyard where the vertical communications and connections to the dwellings are located.
The façades of the dwellings are resolved by means of terraces running along their entire length. These continuous exterior elements resolve the clotheslines, boilers, etc. by means of minimal gestures that camouflage them, giving a certain vibrancy to the whole.
The project attempts to simplify the regulatory complexity as much as possible by using practically a single material, profiled sheet metal. Emphasising, therefore, the resulting volumetry in the manner of longitudinal extruded volumes. The bronze colour, in contrast to the rotundity of the volumetry, creates a changing image that reacts in different ways depending on the sunlight and the cloudiness, which is very changeable in these latitudes.
