ETSAV Students housing

Sant Cugat del Vallès. Barcelona, Spain
Photo © Adrià Goula
Photo © Adrià Goula
© Adrià Goula
© Adrià Goula
© Adrià Goula
Photo © Adrià Goula
Photo © DATAAE - HARQUITECTES
Drawing © DATAAE - HARQUITECTES
arkkitehdit
DATAAE
Location
C/Pere Serra 1-15, Sant Cugat del Vallès. Barcelona, Spain
Year
2009
In collaboration with

H Arquitectes

Awards

Arch Marathon 2014 Prize Awards Ex aequo
ENOR Awards finalist 2014
FAD Awards finalist 2013
BigMat Awards finalist 2013
Mention at Prize Construmat 2013
Finalist at Spanish Architecture Biennale and Urbanism 2013
Sustainable Architecture Architecture Plus Award 2013 1st prize
Mention at Catalunya Social housing Award 2012 
AJAC 2012 1st Prizes 
SAIE Awards 2012 1st Prize
Selection GreenBuilding Challenge 2012

The new university housing for students is located on the same plot as the School of Architecture of Vallès, BARCELONA TECH. The project aims to adapt to the low density of the urban surroundings, prioritizing the direct relationship between the students housing and the campus. This condition is archived with a low building, composed by a ground floor and one storey without elevators, formed by two parallel blocks separated with a central community atrium, which promotes the students relationship with nature. The residential program for architecture students ensures the possibility to intensify the coexistence between users, both individually, promoted by the interior flexibility of the housing units, and collectively, due to the potential functions of the 1000m² atrium, which is thought as a space for social events and as an intermediate bioclimatic space that allows the improvement of the energetic efficiency of the building. The project is designed based on industrialized constructions through the use of only one typology of housing made of precast concrete without partition walls. Each unit has just the necessary fixed elements, which allows for guaranteeing habitability, by simplifying finishing in order investing in energy efficiency. Most of the components are installed and assembled with dry-build systems so every module and its finishing can be dismantled and be reused or highly recyclable. The building is layered over two floors in order to take advantage of the existing topography, making accessible entrances without elevators and reducing in 50% the area used for corridors and stairs. The central atrium is covered in order to create an intermediate bioclimatic space that makes the energy efficiency of the building increase and, at the same time, economizes the building enclosure. The industrialized manufacturing of the components allows time saving and better execution control. The use of dry construction minimizes the wasted materials during the construction process. The analysis of the life cycle of this building demonstrates that this project saves up to 50% of the energy associated to construction materials and a 70 % of the energy demand in relation to standard buildings according to CTE regulations.

Related Projects

  • Shanghai Suhe MixC World
    KOKAISTUDIOS
  • Welcome to the Stage!
    Kjellander Sjöberg
  • Hovering Kan-Too – Great Bay Area Center Showroom
    Wutopia Lab
  • Stockwell-Rodríguez Residence
    Belmont Freeman Architects
  • Haunsbergstraße | 1. Preis
    Architektinnen Schremmer.Jell ZT GmbH

Magazine

Other Projects by DATAAE

Refurbishment and extension of the Guardia Urbana barracks in Nou Barris district
Barcelona, Spain
RESEARCH CENTER ICTA-ICP · UAB
Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain