This project is underpinned by two distinct dualities. Firstly, it has an urban thrust responding to its privileged location within its neighbourhood while at once accepting its belonging to the larger complex of housing blocks in the “Corea” district. Secondly, there is a typological duality, as the building has to accommodate both a public facility and housing units. Harnessing the ambiguity of these dualities, the building is conceived to act as a reference point firmly grounded in its surrounding public space and also to provide the intervention with a sense of place within its neighbourhood. The result is an effective integration into its wider urban, architectonic and social context. The proposal envisages a single building divided into two, shifting between two different scales: an abstract, homogenous face looking onto the street that responds to the building’s urban quality and its function as a public facility; and a vibrant, domestic face overlooking a landscaped space bookended by the two blocks. Furthermore, these two scales are expressed in different materials: aluminium and wood respectively.

client : RIBA consortium, city council of palma
head architects : marta orts – carlos trullenque
assistant architects : carlos nieto, magdalena domoslawska