San Sebastián firm Estudio Beldarrain employed ventilated ceramic tiles to give the Carmen Martín Gaite building in Spain’s Madrid Carlos III University a folded appearance. The building, which is a lecture hall for the humanities, journalism and communication departments, has concrete pillars which disappear behind the folds from the tile, creating the impression that the ceramic plates are floating weightlessly with a pendulum-like movement.
The firm tells ArchDaily that the building seeks the confidence of repetition while also searching for exception and diversity. The repeating patterns, the firm states, offer a reassuring coherence, but aspects of the building- such as a seemingly random placement of windows- humanize the structure and offer the user a choice between multiple possibilities of use. The building, they claim, tends less to reflect the authority of the University. Instead, the building is attentive to the needs of teachers and students. It creates spaces for a variety of encounters in which new models of learning and research can be pursued.
The firm was founded in 2000 by Juan Beldarrain Santos, a 1991 University of Navarra architecture graduate. The studio is also working on projects which include two apartment blocks for young people and senior citizens in San Sebastián, an extension to the Municipal Library of Azkoitia and the headquarters of the Echeveste y Cia Industrial Group in Usurbil.
Above image: Carmen Martín Gaite by Estudio Beldarrain. Photograph by Francisco Berreteaga.
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Carmen Martín Gaite by Estudio Beldarrain. Photographs by Francisco Berreteaga.
Designs for Carmen Martín Gaite by Estudio Beldarrain.
extremely interestig, visually attractive and excitig space . i love the design, the use of clay bricks that give the building warmth at a human scale