Centro de Documentación de las Artes Escénicas de Andalucía
Adaptation project for the church of Saint Lucia for use as the Andalucian Performing Arts Documentation Centre.
Background and conditioning factors
The building upon which we intervened is a church that was constructed in the 14th Century. The structure consists of three naves; a main central nave and two narrower side ones, separated by brick arches that rest upon large rectangular pillars that are also made of brick.
The central nave is the tallest and is covered with a two-sided pitched Arabic tiled roof, while the roof of the lower naves, further down, slope down to just one side.
The apse adopts an irregular shape, probably due to having been attached to a dividing wall.
Adjacent to one of the naves there is a small side chapel of a later period.
The building has suffered many attacks since the demise of the parish in 1868, when it was seized by the State and sold to an individual, that resulted in the loss of all its wooden roof, the moving of the main facade in 1929 to the Church of St. Catherine and the addition of a small two-story building on its south side.
The building was in good condition to be adapted for use as a documentation centre. However it lacked certain provisions that were considered essential for the new usage of the building, and to achieve more comfortable and adequate conditions. Among these requirements was the air conditioning, essential for the storage and consultation of books and other documents.
Description of the Final Intervention
The intervention aims to bring the building in line with the needs of the The Andalucian Performing Arts Documentation Centre; playing host daily to all personnel affiliated with the centre, accommodating the storage of all documentation, as well as allowing open or restricted access to researchers who may wish to make use of the collection.
The toilets and the directors offices have been kept to the two additional floors on the South side of the Church and the main room formed by the three naves of the Church and the side Chapel have been conditioned and distributed into zones that include work areas, archive and documentation protection areas, and areas for both open and restricted consultations.
To do this, a raised area was first created in one of the aisles of the church, which allows you to trace, under a raised floor, a network of air conditioning ducts which connect to the external conditioning unit located in the annexed courtyard.
On the other side of the Church, in the other two aisles (central and other lateral) another type of network has been created; a network of furniture. Composed mainly of shelves that compartmentalize this large and unique space, the furniture creates a layout, with different work areas, storage areas, enquiries and control points, which develop complementarily to each other.
This furniture, although belonging to an existing model of a particular brand, has been modified with special pieces designed and made to measure that permit distribute adequately the new installations within the space, mainly to drive the air conditioning system, which as above mentioned, is imperative for the conservation of the archives, as well as providing service to both users and staff of the centre, allowing them to carry out their work with a minimum level of comfort.
Thus, with a modest investment, the needs of the centre were adequately met and the result is non-aggressive and complementary to the original building, which forms an important part of the history of the city of Seville.
Architect: Miguel Bretones del Pozo (SSW Arquitectos)
Technical Architect: Enrique Lerma Dorado
Collaborator: DiMarq S.L.
Construction Company: E@sy 2000 S.L.
