Goals

• Reuse an experimental academic infrastructure to turn it into a collective and public-use space.
• Provide a meeting place and support infrastructure for the activities and needs of neighborhood stakeholders.
• Promote the connection between research and local communities, and enhance its social return.
• Establish new synergies between research and the community.
• Foster social innovation through local, tangible experiences.
• Activate a process of reflection and transformation in the area where it is located.

Report

The (e)co prototype was born within the academic university framework of ETSAV as a research project for an experimental energy self-sufficient housing prototype linked to the International Solar Decathlon competition in 2012.

Later, the opportunity arose to reuse this university infrastructure through a free material transfer agreement between ETSAV and the Sant Cugat City Council, and to reassemble it to serve the Les Planes community.

Due to limitations in available economic resources, the assembly was planned in several phases to progressively achieve the final performance. A period of uncertainty led to the appropriation of the infrastructure by agents who made disrespectful use of it, which has also required carrying out a set of repair and improvement tasks.

Two different and complementary implementation strategies have been considered to simultaneously attend to the two collective spaces of the neighborhood: the Espai Pere Grau sports court and the Casal civic center.

The greenhouse and two of the modules have been placed on the plot adjacent to the locker room building with the aim of encouraging and favoring the transformation of this area with great socialization potential in the neighborhood, while offering the first comfortable spaces through two independent rooms and a large multipurpose area in the intermediate space.

The third module, now equipped to be used outdoors, has been located annexed to the Casal building, becoming a complementary space to more immediately meet the meeting space needs of neighborhood entities.

Intermediate Spaces / Comfort Gradients

The main strategy of the prototype pursues the concept of “box in box” or double envelope through two complementary construction systems responding to an organic cycle and an industrial cycle, considering the potential for diverse configurations according to needs:

Spaces with higher thermal performance made up of cross-laminated timber modules, insulated and with a high degree of airtightness.

A large microclimatic envelope inspired by agricultural environments that, through various devices for capture, shading, and ventilation, functions as a climate machine, reducing the demand of the higher-performance spaces and simultaneously generating programmable and appropriable intermediate spaces for a large percentage of the year without energy consumption.

The complementarity and interdependence of both systems respond to a climatic as well as programmatic strategy.

The interstitial space generated between these two envelopes is the intermediate space, a key element of the project that can be defined as a space of exchange and connection. It is a hybrid and microclimatic space capable of offering users a passive approach to comfort conditions while generating a gradient between interior and exterior space.

The prototype as a tool / Temporality and Reversibility

The reversibility and dry construction systems, even in the foundation, allow for complete disassembly of the prototype without leaving residue or impact on the site, granting it the condition of temporality to be used for as long as necessary, without compromising future transformation scenarios of the neighborhood.

Thus, the prototype becomes an experimental “tool” to generate comfortable spaces at a very low energy cost, while promoting the approach and coexistence of research with neighborhoods to encourage and facilitate knowledge exchange and enhance social return.