Location
Castelló d’Empúries (Alt Empordà, Girona)
Use
Cultural – Multipurpose hall
Surface
1.650 sqm
Year
2020-21 (competition); 2022-23 (project)
Status
Start of works planned for 2024
Description
The building was originally built as a church, although it has undergone several renovations and modifications throughout its history and has been used for different purposes. Since 1933, after the refurbishment by the municipal architect Claudi Díaz, and up to the present day, the building has been used as a multi-purpose municipal hall, housing a large part of the town's cultural activities.
The site of the former 'Palau dels Comtes' of Castelló (also known as the 'Convent de Sant Domènec' - 17th century), where the church is located, is considered a historic-artistic monument in order to preserve its typological, structural and functional characteristics.
The strategic location of the building within the historical centre of the town is in direct conflict with the hermetic and introverted nature of the building as it stands today. We understand its position as a great opportunity to articulate the public spaces that surround it and to enhance its role as a municipal building that serves and furnishes the community.
The current layout of the building does not favour a polyvalent and versatile use of its spaces. Neither its main entrances, nor the circulations (which are not very circular), nor the mono-orientation of the main stage favour this condition.
The project could be summarised in 3 main goals:
1- Reconnect the building with the surrounding public spaces to reinforce its public and municipal role.
2- To discover and dignify the original building and its main spaces by highlighting the architectural heritage.
3- To provide multi-purpose spaces with different qualities that not only allow for greater flexibility and diversity of uses, but also for simultaneous activities.
Already in the competition phase, we proposed to go beyond the renovation of the interior spaces of the building, seeking to adapt them to the current needs and also to reconnect the facility with the adjacent public space, activating it and improving universal accessibility of a complicated area of the historic centre of the town. We proposed to fulfil the need for flexibility with 3 multi-purpose spaces with different qualities that would allow, in addition to greater flexibility of use, the simultaneity of activities. In addition, we proposed the implementation of passive strategies, taking advantage of the need to rebuild the roof of the building to reduce the use of energy in the future facility, also uncovering the interior architectural heritage that has been hidden or damaged over the years and the many alterations that have been carried out to adapt the building to different uses.
In order to free up the 3 proposed multi-purpose spaces, it is necessary to re-organise the programme in such a way that all those uses that serve and complement the multi-purpose spaces do not interfere with them.
The new multifunctional spaces in the building, corresponding to the 3 main halls, are:
1- The Foyer, with an entrance from the Plaza del Joc de la Pilota. Revealing the original vaulted ceilings.
2- The Old Theatre, recovering the original volume of this central space by eliminating the false ceiling and incorporating a new skylight in the roof.
3- The 'Sala del Ábside' (former apse), where by lowering the floor level to the same as Josefina Gambús square, we will discover a space of new proportions which will also make it possible to dignify and contemplate the apse and the ribbed vaults of the ceiling in all their fullness..
Thanks to the new organisation, these three multi-purpose spaces will be able to be used independently and, when necessary, simultaneously. In addition, each of them will have a direct relationship with the outdoor public space adjacent to it, allowing activity to take place in them. But at the same time, the circulations are arranged in such a way that both the new multifunctional spaces and the outdoor public spaces are connected to each other and can function, if desired, as a large complex for larger events.
Architecture
Länk Arquitectes
Client
Ajuntament Castelló d’Empúries
Images
Historical archive of Castelló d'Empúries (Historical photos)
Länk Arquitectes (outdoors)
RAWRAW (indoors)
