Vitoria Concert Halls

Details_

• CLIENT: Ciudad de Vitoria-Gasteiz
• PROJECT: Riccardo Crespi Architetto (AdHocMsl)
• AREA: 38.000mq
• BUDGET: 138.500.000€
• PHASES: Competition

Project description_

The Basque Country is one of the European regions where it is strongest attention to the sustainability of completed buildings. This is why one of the fundamental conditions imposed by the competition for the new Palace of Music and Congress Centre of Vitoria-Gasteiz was the realization of a building that would become a reference at European level both from a cultural point of view architecture.

Accordingly our project proposed the possibility of leaving completely free and filtering ground 50% of the available plot, and to destine the empty 50%  to the planting of tall trees with the aim to create at the same time an amazing natural foyer.  A building in a forest, as opposed to the typical monumentality of concert halls and convention centers, broken down into 4 volumes all having in common the entrance foyer and completely immersed in a completely natural environment.

Sustainability is not just about making a building surrounded by green. Therefore it consists in applying what are commonly  defined as a passive systems in the energy management, absolutely essential and of central importance that in our proposal are even more important because they generate the design process.

The 70% of the roof was made with a plant cover for a specific technical  reason and not purely propaganda. Thanks to the excellent insulating performances during the winter season and to the refreshing value during the summer , that kind of roof could provide sustainable benefit  while ensuring a maximum efficiency.

To increase the natural circulation of the interior spaces, we designed a sort solar chimneys, as a sky light,  that characterize the building’ appeal due to their shape, creating a sort of artificial roof path. Aforementioned skylight are  openable truncated pyramid structure  carefully designed, located  and distributed in the roof. That elements allow through the daily solar exposure the heating of the air present inside them.

In this way, thanks to the difference thermal gradient between the cones and the air present within the building and exploiting the natural convective motion of the same to the higher temperatures, they generate  movements of air that cool naturally the interiors. Skylights’ locations have greatly influenced the general layout . Accordingly the halls, to achieve the best  acoustic performance, are characterized by a very simple shape but internally characterized by a sophisticated design in order to ensure the best quality in terms of acoustic point of view.