133 DWELLINGS

YEAR: 2007-2009

CLIENT: NASIPA SL

PLOT: Sector 6 Mariturri, Zabalgana. Vitoria-Gasteiz

TEAM: Javier Mozas (co-author), Mikel Valderrama, Ainhoa del Río, Olatz Iñigo, NB35 (estructura), F&B Ingeniería.

AWARDS: Winning project in the Competition of 133 affordable social housing in plot RC 34 Mariturri in Zabalgana. Vitoria-Gasteiz. 2006

MEMORY:

The strategy used in the proposal for plot RC 34 reverses the traditional method used in architecture, which goes from the ground plan to the section, to the elevation and finally to the spatial perspective. In this case, the sketches of the spatial conditions, the silhouette and the formalisation of the built volume are what define the general plan.

Designing from the perspective view implies associating the built mass according to different parameters to the fitting of the dwellings by levels. The perspective arises from the relationships between full and empty spaces and therefore, the general volume does not adapt to the limitations of the Detailed Study.

Plot RC 34 has a unique position in the city, it is the southern gate. It is the first residential building to appear entering from the south and will remain so for some years to come. This point marks the beginning of the residential fabric and the silhouette of its volume silhouetted against the sky is the first image that citizens and visitors will recognise or perceive.

The silhouette of the Zabalgana buildings and the Mariturri area form the city’s skyline to the south. Sector 6 is the first consolidated city fabric that appears in front of the windscreen when entering Vitoria-Gasteiz on the old N1.