Renovation and Extension of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters
The Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, completed in 1941, was the first to be built on the San Francisco Campus. This building, designed by Regino Borobio and José Beltrán, has a large longitudinal development with a symmetrical layout. On one hand, the main purpose of the intervention was to bring together two initially faced issues: the right-tone continuity to intervene in the historic building with the technological deployment linked to maximum energy efficiency until almost zero energy consumption (ECCN) -aligned with the institution’s environmental commitments-. On the other hand, a university building tends to refer to a certain idea of community, encounter and relationship between students and researchers. Therefore, generating common, open and versatile spaces has been another key purpose of the project, which is based on these three axes: civic character, energy savings, and shared knowledge.
In the existing building (EFL), the intervention focuses on the preservation and improvement of its original features, the response to the demands of the program and the outdoor spaces activation. The reinforcement of both the structure and the foundation, the improvement of the thermal performance of the envelope -including carpentry-, the dismantling and reconstruction of the roofs, the restoration and cleaning of the facades and the complete redistribution of the floors with new stairs and elevators -eliminating interior modifications to recover the original structure of the floors- have been global actions the project has involved. In addition, specific operations have been carried out connecting diverse built volumes introducing contemporary elements that improve functionality, relationships and accessibility.
The new Departmental Building (EDE), annex to the EFL, occupies a privileged position at the edge of the campus, extending the faculty through the northeast to the access portico from San Francisco Square. Its volumetric composition responds to a continuity with the longitudinal main body of the historic building, contributing to reduce the built scale towards the campus and especially towards the street -as the different levels of the roofs dialogue with the heights of the urban context-. The varying floor plans favor a rich volumetric configuration which generates an indoor covered agora, a multipurpose meeting place at the service of the university community.
Externally, the new building intends to have a solid and timeless presence without renouncing certain autonomy with an abstract character, using a contemporary language. The exterior façade is composed of a rhythmic succession of overlapping brick pilasters, between horizontal slabs of white concrete. The ‘linteled tectonic’ of the facades evokes the construction as a stacking of simple elements, to which also responds the choice of pressed brick that hides the mortar of union between them.
The environmental commitment, focused on a nearly zero energy consumption (NZEB) and an excellent BREEAM certificate rating, is manifested in both passive measures (recyclable materials, double facades, glazed atrium, vegetation...) and active strategies, such as: renewable energy production through solar cogeneration with hybrid panels and seasonal accumulation, open-circuit geothermal heating with well water condensation, aerothermal heating, absorption for cooling production, Canadian wells, clean air equipment, monitoring systems... amongst others.
CREDITS
Architects: Magén Arquitectos (Jaime Magén, Francisco J.Magén)
Collaborators: Pilar Giménez, Irene Arrieta, Clara Ordovás , David Lozano, Víctor Chueca, David Lozano, Marta Aguado, Guillermo Montaner, Alba Zamora, Javier Garuz (architects); David Mateo, Fernando Galindo, Marina Bonet (quantity surveyors/ budget supervisors)
Consultants: Ingeniería Torné SL (mechanical engineering); José Ángel Pérez Benedicto (structure)
