Novedades de Ventilated Facade
Art in Ventilated Façade
ULMA presents an innovating design for ventilated façade, developed by architect Alberto Martín de Lucio from some sketches of artist Luis Feito. In the Madrid locality of San Sebastián de los Reyes the covering of the façade of the Municipal Training Center was carried out. “The idea of placing some cubes over the façade came up from the team work developed by architect Alberto Martín de Lucio and sculptor and painter Luis Feito, founder of the Grupo El Paso and key figure in the Spanish contemporary art.” Technical File of the work: Project: Municipal Training Center. Location: San Sebastián de los Reyes (Madrid) Completion date: July 2006. Architect: Alberto Martín de Lucio. Ventilated façade execution: Alberto Martín de Lucio, Luis Feito, ULMA Polymer Concrete. Promoter: San Sebastián de los Reyes City Counsil. Construction Firm: Begar S.A. Surface constructed: 5.000 m2. Façade material: Polymer concrete plates (library building west façade), ceramic brick (rest of the library building façades) and single layer mortar (classrooms building façades). The building: The global perception of the building for the Municipal Training Center was constructed with a set of volumes, with contrasts and balances. To the black cube almost perfect, with greater height, opposes the shorter, separated by the offset access which acts as a knee cap with articulates the union. In turn, a wall in the roof is the unifying element. Also the uses are differentiated. The cube, which image is more symbolic, was selected for the acting of Luis Feito, grouping the acting classroom, the exposition rooms, the library and the open auditorium. In the prism, with a more pragmatic character, the classroom and workshops are distributed. The building surroundings complete its formal and functional comprehension, limiting access with tree plantations and marking paths with grass bands, shrub zones and vegetable soil. The façade and the cubes: The idea: Luis Feito was excited with the idea of grand scale acting over the façade of the Training Center building. The collaboration with the project’s architect was intense, interchanging ideas in the artist’s studio up to the final definition of the proposal. Since the first moment Feito disregarded the idea of using the façade as a base for a new pictoric work. On the contrary, his interest was focused on the contrast between the two architectural volume of the building and proposed a sculptoric exercise, in which certain parts of the protection get apart from it creating a three-dimensional effect, with textures differentiated from the base to the ones that fly over them. The execution: The material selected for the main façade of the library building was the polymer concrete in black colored pieces with variable formats between 180x90 and 30x90 cm. Its singularity is based in the three-dimensional effect obtained thanks to the construction over the protection of some cubic volumes flying according to Luis Feito. The glossy finish has been selected for the main plane of the façade, with details in the miniwave panel under the skylight, and bright finish for the cubes. This texture combination helps to highlight the volumes set, with lights and shades. The major technical challenge consisted in the execution of the five faces of the cubes, which fly 11 or 20cm over the protection surface. Each of the elements had to be fabricated individually, placing them in their position over an auxiliary structure supported on the main structure of the ventilated façade, with hidden fixing solutions adapted to each case. Each cube should fit perfectly in the façade and stay plumb with the rest of the coplanary volumes. The polymer concrete was an unknown material for the site management, but the constant assistance of the ULMA technical-commercial team in search of solutions, and the flexibility and seriousness of their proposals accomplished to have them in mind for future projects. The properties of the material, the beauty of the tones and the competitive price, have inclined the balance in favor of ULMA, even though they had considered other material like cut steel and natural stone. The architect: Architect by the Superior Technical School of Architecture of Madrid, his first award was obtained in 1992, two years before finishing his education. Since then he has made compatible his work as liberal professional, in which highlights buildings with strong symbolic character, with his work as architecture books editor and as teacher in the Polytechnic University of Madrid. He is also an architect committed with art, who has accomplished to involve major artists in the design of some of his works more representative, like Luis Feito and his grand scale acting over the façade of the Municipal Training Center, in San Sebastián de los Reyes (Madrid), one of the last competitions in which Alberto Martín de Lucio has won. The homage artist: he participation of Luis Feito in this project has supposed a tribute in his labor and work. Among the awards he has received we can mention his appointment, in the year 1993, as Commander of the Arts and Literature Order of France, and in 1998, as member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando and gold medal of Fine Arts. Has exhibited continuously throughout his artistic career in galleries and exposition spaces in Europe, Asia and America, individually as well as jointly, with the El Paso group. Has works in the most important museums and public collections of the world like the Museum of Modern Art in Rome, Guggenheim Museum in New Cork, National Museum of Modern Art of Paris and the National Museum Art Center Queen Sofia of Madrid among others.
