Building of 115 social housing, offices and commercial premises. Viladecans

The Llevant Sector is a newly created neighborhood in Viladecans. The site for this residential building with tertiary uses on the first floors is located on a civic road, the Central Rambla of this neighborhood, where the access to housing and premises on the ground floor are proposed.

The building is made up of a deep plinth of ground floor + mezzanine on which a shallower linear block of 7 floors is arranged. The proposal formally separates this upper volume using the permitted cantilevers in such a way that a clear, regular volume is obtained, and it maximizes the south facade for the flats.

The volume frames all the terraces with light-colored brickwork, so that the building offers a first reading of large proportions capable of integrating with relevance in the landscape of large buildings that surround it. A second plane of darker brickwork houses the windows of the flats, arranged with a regular rhythm of vertical openings, which are simple to build and complement the horizontal proportions of the terraces with their glass rails. Sliding blinds provide the building with solar protection, privacy to the terraces and domesticity to the whole.

The proposal organizes the flats with 2 staircases with elevators, located on the north facade. There are 63 housing units facing south, 14 housing units to the northeast and northwest and 34 housing units facing north (67% of homes receive direct sunlight in winter). On the 7th floor a large terrace is generated in which the clotheslines and the premises are distributed.

Sustainability

The project reaches all the processes that define a respectful intervention with the environment and the recommendations planned for this eco-valley. The general design of the building incorporates all the environmental criteria that the passive use of the orientations and climatology allow: natural lighting of the common areas, use of passive environmental control systems that greatly reduce the needs of additional energy use as are the use of water-saving mechanisms, ventilated and very insulated roofs, roller blinds and protection for sun control, reduction of the average coefficient of thermal transmittance with the use of high efficiency 8cm thick thermal insulation and it includes a separate storage space for recyclable waste in the basement. The natural ventilation of the housing units is achieved with solar chimneys: a chimney that is heated on its upper stretch and by the Venturi effect, by means of controlling the air flux with movable louvers over the cupboards of the kitchens and cleaning cupboard, allow a ventilation control that adjusts to the different hourly needs throughout the year.

The project also allows for the provision of active systems such as the use of recycled graywater and rainwater in deposits – treatment plants located in the basement, solar thermal panels (two circuits to produce hot water), the power supply through photovoltaic panels for the lighting of the common areas and the use of presence detectors to reduce costs. The materials used where chosen for their low ecological impact and high recyclability. The reuse of construction debris is proposed for the basement subbase of the basement concrete slab.