Torre Plaza Europa Barcelona, Spain Residential Building Project Photo, Design Property Images
Torre Plaza Europa Barcelona
Catalan Social Housing: Residential Development Catalunya design by Roldán + Berengué Architects
post updated 10 May 2024
Social housing tower in Plaza Europa, Barcelona
Design: Roldán + Berengué arqts. from Barcelona, Spain
New apartment tower in Plaça Europa in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona
25 Apr 2011
Plaza Europa Tower
It’s a social apartment building and part of an urban master plan by Viaplana & Piñon for L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, the Plaça Europa.
Even though the Torre is social housing tower, among the most regulated and least glamorous areas of architecture, with limited budget, we tried to make difference and hopefully managed to make it look attractive with its elegant facade and generous entrance lobby presented as a interior street crossing the building.
One interesting detail very specific for Roldan + Berengue architecture is cutting of the façade every tree floors (grouping the floors), that completely changes scale in this case, of the tower from 15 floor building to the scale of traditional lower 5 floor building in the neighborhood.
The tower envelope is ventilated façade of HPL large two-tone grey panels sewn with aluminum profiles and connecting at the same time the huge 3 floor tribunes.
All materials used in the tower’s construction are 100% recyclable and specifically the ones used in the facade come from a 65% natural materials and 100% already recycled materials.
Torre Plaza Europa Barcelona : Building Information
*SOCIAL HOUSING OF 77 UNITS IN PLAÇA EUROPA, L’HOSPITALET, BARCELONA.
INNOVATION CRITERIA
1 – Facade disposition in two planes through “inverted tribunes”: apartments with THREE SOLAR ORIENTATIONS and crossed ventilation
2 – NATURAL OR RECYCLED (85%) and RECYCLABLE (100%) materials and production cycles that incorporate cost-saving measures and energy use
3 – PREINDUSTRIALIZED facade systems, “dry” construction
4 – VENTILATED FACADE with total elimination of thermal bridges
5 – very austere materials assembled in UNCONVENTIONAL ways
Independent systems are used at different levels of the facade, without interference between them:
A- MODULE OF PREFABRICATED WINDOW: lacquered steel sub-frame , aluminum window frames with thermal bridges break + chambered glass + aluminum shutters, placed from floor to ceiling (inside plane)
B- VENTILATED FACADE of large format black aluminum composite panels, (sides)
C- VENTILATED FACADE of large format 8 mm HPL panels , with a hidden structure of recycled aluminum 4 mm thick, which provides equal strength with a weight per square meter than any other material with the same qualities (Exterior plan)
D- LATTICE formed by fixed brise-soleil of same material, placed in aluminum special extrusion profiles for the sys-tem to control graduate orientation and spacing of the slats (Externally)
The criteria for selection of materials of the facade are:
1 – ASSEMBLY: facade materials have been used at their maximum size possible to optimize both time and material assembly efficiency, to control the effect of cuttings on the global scale of the building.
2 – SUSTAINABILITY: A comparative study has been made to evaluate recycled materials, their merits, natural origin and the ability to be recycled at the end of their useful life. Furthermore, it has also been evaluated the amount of energy waste and the recovery policy of surplus energy generated during the production process.
HPL (High pressure laminate) PANELS “FUNDERMAX NT Exterior”
Thickness 8 mm, format 4,1×1,85 m
Quantity: 2,410 m2, 27 TM
Properties: lightness, strength, variety of formats, minimal shrinkage, fast installation, minimal maintenance, heat and sound insulation, moisture protection
Composition: 65% natural fiber (40% of which is recycled), 35% synthetic material
Life cycle: 25% recycled source, 65% natural origin. 100% recyclable
CO2 emission: 6,000 kg/m3 (23,000 kg/m3 steel, aluminum 37,000 kg/m3)
Energy recovery: 95% of energy recovered in the production and for heating of buildings in the vicinity of the factory
– ALUMINIUM COMPOSITE PANELS “ALUCOBOND”
Thickness 4 mm; format 6×2 m
Quantity: 2,690 m2, 15 TM
Properties: lightness, strength, bending rigidity, a variety of formats, rapid installation, minimal maintenance, thermal and acoustic insulation, low thermal expansion
Life cycle: 90% recyclable
CO2 Emission: 15,000 kg/m3
Weight / rigidity required: 5.5 kg/m2 (for the same rigidity is required: aluminum 8.9 kg/m2, 11.7 kg/m2 in fibroce-ment, 18.7 kg/m2 in steel)
– ALUMINIUM PROFILES
Quantity: 10 TM
Properties: light weight, corrosion resistance, bending stiffness, a variety of formats, low thermal expansion
Lifecycle: 100% recycled and recyclable
Savings in raw material consumption: 1TM = 5 TM recycled aluminum bauxite
Energy savings in production: 95% from the primary aluminum
Plaza Europa Tower images / information from Roldán + Berengué arqts.
Location: Plaza de Europa, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
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