
Grifols Academy
LOCATION
Parets del Vallès, Spain
TYPE
Cultural › Cultural Center, Educational › Elementary School
The house was one of the few vestiges of the rural past of the town.
Before our intervention, the house was abandoned and it was in danger of collapsing.
It had suffered a lot of renovations and extensions which had obscured the original shape of the building and were now in a state of disrepair.
This project led to requalification of the existing building, on one hand enhancing and recovering the most historic values, and on the other, clarifying its spaces, which were dark and chaotic, by a new layout with two visual axes and through the introduction of natural light which now reaches every space of the house.
On the west fa�ade, we designed a new access path ending in a meeting plaza which leads to the entrance of the academy. This entrance is framed by a new ?loggia?
(an open-air gallery) which was designed to be a neutral but modern element of iron and glass whose shape connects old parts of the west fa�ade.
The floors were removed to create a dramatic vertical space that leads to the old wooden staircase at the top of the tower.
With all the plaster removed, the underlying stone structure is now visible.
Taking into account the industrial surroundings, and we have tried to create a quiet oasis by making the most of the existing topography, and by planting local vegetation.
