rehabilitation of seminary building

commission by tender with merits

(preliminary design)

moncada, valencia / 2020 –

rehabilitation of seminary building

commission by tender with merits

(preliminary design)

moncada, valencia / 2020 –

txt

The Major Seminary of the Inmaculate Conception of Valencia (or “the Seminary of Moncada”, how it is commonly known) is made up by three enormous pavilions, 180 m long, several secondary pavilions and the church. It was built between 1944 and 1966. Its language is historicist and austere. Its construction, strong and solid, is based on its massif walls, 60 cm thick, made of limestone and red brick that identify it. Actually, it is a really imposing and attractive building
The project consists of rehabilitation one of the main pavilions, two secondary ones and the adjacent outdoor spaces to adapt them as a school. The strategy is to analyze, know and recognize, in order to reinforce and add. At a functional level, there are two difficulties. The first is to incorporate a dense and highly hierarchical program in a preformed and very rigid volume. And the second is to bridge the gap of the semi-basements in order to connect the ground floor to the outside as naturally as possible. For the second challenge, ramps and sunken patios are used. For the first, a lot of fitting work and spatial strategies that can help alleviate the harshness and monotony derived from the extreme length of the plants. This is attempted with the introduction of small variants (empties, setbacks, crossings…), almost randomly, which provide variety, surprise and meeting and work spaces to the circulation lines. It is a work from the small to put the value of the big.

+info

client : Colegio CEU San Pablo

head architects : marta orts – carlos trullenque

assistant architects : jesús santamans, ana villalba, arquitectos

images : estudio agraph

The Major Seminary of the Inmaculate Conception of Valencia (or “the Seminary of Moncada”, how it is commonly known) is made up by three enormous pavilions, 180 m long, several secondary pavilions and the church. It was built between 1944 and 1966. Its language is historicist and austere. Its construction, strong and solid, is based on its massif walls, 60 cm thick, made of limestone and red brick that identify it. Actually, it is a really imposing and attractive building
The project consists of rehabilitation one of the main pavilions, two secondary ones and the adjacent outdoor spaces to adapt them as a school. The strategy is to analyze, know and recognize, in order to reinforce and add. At a functional level, there are two difficulties. The first is to incorporate a dense and highly hierarchical program in a preformed and very rigid volume. And the second is to bridge the gap of the semi-basements in order to connect the ground floor to the outside as naturally as possible. For the second challenge, ramps and sunken patios are used. For the first, a lot of fitting work and spatial strategies that can help alleviate the harshness and monotony derived from the extreme length of the plants. This is attempted with the introduction of small variants (empties, setbacks, crossings…), almost randomly, which provide variety, surprise and meeting and work spaces to the circulation lines. It is a work from the small to put the value of the big.

client : Colegio CEU San Pablo

head architects : marta orts – carlos trullenque

assistant architects : jesús santamans, ana villalba, arquitectos

images : estudio agraph