This is a ‘Biological Field Station (EBC)’ located in the old sawmill building of the ‘La Resinera’ complex, which would be used for environmental research and teaching. The architectural proposal involves recovering the essential character of the spaces, conceived as large containers into which other small containers are incorporated, following the functional programme.
Some of the new uses introduced are to be found in these smaller modules that allow the building to house a wide range of activities, all of them related to the use of the planned Biological Field Station. The programme is then developed both inside these small containers and in the voids resulting from the large container, giving use to the whole building on the basis of a gradient of privacy.
Access to the building is through the north façade, which is emphasised by a flared Corten steel canopy that crosses the secondary building on the north façade to the main building where the reception area and the ‘large stage space’ where the small containers are located.
The main nave crowned by the gabled roof made of cable-stayed pendulum trusses becomes the main protagonist of the project. Given its spatial aptitudes that recognise its industrial past, it is sought to enhance its value by adopting a strategy that seeks to maintain spatial integrity by developing certain interlinked uses, the result of which is a single fluid space that is nuanced by the different containers and other light furniture elements.
It is in these voids in the building generated by the inserted containers that the classroom, living spaces, multi-purpose dining room and kitchen are developed. They become a series of informal spaces that encourage interaction and collaboration between the pupils. The classroom at the eastern end of the building is closed off from the rest of the volume to give it greater independence and autonomy, but isolated by means of a wooden volume that is crowned with glazing in its upper part so that it does not interrupt the longitudinal view of the roof.
The containers are small wooden volumes that generate a relationship of respect with the main volume while being responsible for housing the laboratory and toilets.
As for the dormitories, they will be located in the smallest building on the north façade, where there are more openings and more surface area for ventilation and lighting. Access to the different dormitories is from the main building through interstitial spaces between the different containers.
The intervention on the roof focuses on the replacement of the existing roof with wooden sandwich panel skirts with high acoustic absorption and thermal insulation to finish the exterior with a Corten steel sheet cladding on battens. The natural lighting of the large main space is ensured by a north-facing longitudinal skylight in the roof ridge, designed in such a way that it does not alter the interior section of the building.