Geological and Foresty School and Museum
Competitions
Details_
- CLIENT: Región de Murcia
- PROJECT: Riccardo Crespi Architetto (AdHocMsl) + Modostudio
- AREA: 130 ha
- BUDGET: 16.000.000€
- PHASES: Competition, 1° Prize
Project description_
The competition for the Ciudad del Medioambiente foresaw the recovery and securing of an abandoned stone quarry located in Santomera in the region of Murcia, moreover the construction of an eco-medioambientale information center and sustainable development and a school for environmental professionals. The competition’s aim was to create a City of Sustainability that could be a reference not in Spain moreover it could be internationally well-known.
After a thorough study of the quarry conditions, conducted in collaboration with a specialized team of mining engineers, structural, geologists and biologists, it quickly became clear that the budget made available was not sufficient for the realization of all that was required in the program.
To use of the economic resources available at best, we decided to invest most of the budget in the construction of the two buildings required – the geological and forestry museum and school for environmental operators – and to design a training course characterized by different architectural elements.Being practically impossible to implement a real commissioning of a safety path in the mountain, we carefully studied and defined the areas considered risky because of the falling rocks and we stated the maximum distance that these blocks had reached: it was possible to draw the educational process at an appropriate distance and fully under secure areas.
Within these safe areas we chosen the two wider – one in the entrance area and the other further in the path – where we located respectively the school and the museum. The school is a building of about 1.700mq “embedded” into the rock, characterized by glazed windows facing the north side.
With the inclusion of the building in the rock, we obtained that the sides most exposed to sunlight – and thus to the daytime warming – would suffer a marked improvement in its thermal inertia of the building; while the window on the north side, has not only got a good illumination of the interior without overheating problems, but it has created a panoramic view towards the mountainous Sierra surrounding the Murcia Region.
The geological-forestry museum is constituted by two separate buildings with a total of about 1.400mq shaped urchin, whose “spines” are represented by the prisms at times to exploit the effect that open-fire and allow the circulation of ‘ air inside, other windows for the entry of light, sometimes completely blind to protect from eviction. Distribution and orientation of the different prisms has been designed to get the best from each of their characteristics.
