This project belongs to a series of works where Amas4arquitectura tried to look into a massiveness which liberated space and turned what isn’t done into the main focus. The whole building is articulated by this blank space in the shape of patios, subtractions or voids.
Project name: Rehabilitation and daycare centre for persons with disabilities. “Aspaym Ávila”
Location: C/Caléndula, s/n, 05003 ÁVILA. 40°38’26.3″N, 4°41’40.6″W
Architects: amas4arquitectura (Fernando Zaparaín, Fermín Antuña, Eduardo García).
Engineering: Lucio Monje (Construction Engineering), Báscones y Pérez (Structural Engineering), Dimensión Ingeniería (facilities engineering)
Client: Fundación ASPAYM Castilla y León
Area: 350,00 m2
Website: http://amas4arquitectura.wix.com/inicio
Photo credits: Pedro Iván Ramos – MOI
Daylight is distributed through indirect and singular openings. Structure is resolved through big superficial components in the form of enclosure. This bearing mass accumulation gives some freedom on facade to arrange shades and transparencies of a singular plastic value. Concrete, this time white-coloured, makes possible that wished continuity on which to open significant voids.
This small building stands in the outskirts of Ávila (Spain). It is a rectangular ground floor pavilion along the street that divides the plot into an access porch, a parking and a backyard. In an ugly environment, still unfinished, Amas4arquitectura has opted for the autonomy of a hermetic volume, with a strong material presence; but as soon as users enter, they can held a gaze out the window, towards the patio. The far distance city views turns into a passive background of the center activity, all around the rehab space, which is an extension of both the hall and the garden; a kind of multipurpose space thanks to the absence of structure and the transparency of many.
The entire construction is resolved with a ceiling with laminated wood beams that floats on the ground at 2.70m. The beams are separated 1.50m to axes and are 72 cm wide.
It gives the roof a strong presence and a plastic relief: views and the interior atmosphere are be trapped under a singular but kind “lid”. Users perform a good part of the rehabilitation activities lying on stretchers facing upwards, or have a low vision because the wheelchairs: that is the reason why energies of the project are concentrated in this sculptural ceiling.
This ceiling is supported by perimeter walls made of white concrete, which form a façade that is more closed to the street and a discontinuous façade to the garden. Windows and main partitions are resolved with glass from floor to ceiling to preserve the continuity of the space.
Amas4arquitectura
Established in 2006, Amas4arquitectura is a spanish Valladolid based group of architects operating within the fields of architecture and urbanism led by a highly ambitious design practice, with a proven track record across a broad spectrum of sectors and scales.
Their architecture is borne out of a rigorous design process and is communicated through a range of media, enabling a wide range of opportunities to be explored in order to get to an advanced and innovative architecture with the available resources on each occasion and appropiate to each programme requirement, providing accuracy, exactitude, innovation, cost control and programme-committed singular spatial experiences.
The result is an architecture which is strongly influenced by the unique attributes of each site and its context, and seeks out the qualities that contribute to a sense of place.
In short, Amas4arquitectura believe in an architecture which is:
- Responsive to the context and character of a site.
- Enriched by a communicative and analytical process .
- Responsive to the constraints of time and budget, often in demanding circumstances.
- Bold, sensitive and innovative.
- Developed through collaboration and a multi-disciplinary approach.
