Remodeling of the old school group "Divino Maestro" as House of Culture

Date: 2018
Design/direction: Eduardo Delgado Orusco
Team: Javier Rincón Sánchez

The planned intervention for the transformation of the municipal school "Divino Maestro" into the House of Culture of the municipality of Los Molinos serves a sequence of intentions and criteria: budgetary containment as a first mind, the moderation in the necessary transformations -which leads to a studied recycling of available spaces - but also a careful image transformation from the conviction of their need. We must think that part of the planned adaptation involves the provision of a new presence, which appeals to the transformation not only physical but the collective memory of the inhabitants of Los Molinos. With this idea it has been thought of a strategy of enveloping the volume of the old school through a second skin of aluminum slats or similar (it could also be ceramic) that, in addition to facilitating a passive thermal control of the set, through a kind of glaze , with the dream image transformation.

This game of skin change allows you to think of the building as a poster, a backdrop on which to hang announcements of future performances or events, and even project images serving as a complement to some of the new activities designed for public space.

 

It could be said that the great transformation thought for this set goes through the new uses and character of the outdoor public space that is part of the project.

It is about the offer of a citizen colonization of this space, through the opening and disposition of a network of small pieces -in some cases the mere transformation of the soils- for its appropriation by the inhabitants of the town. They are recreational uses for the most part but also cultural, an excellent complement to the uses requested for the interior of the new House of Culture of Los Molinos.

In particular, it has been thought of a possible outdoor multipurpose space, a kind of elementary amphitheater that serves both for performances and for neighborhood meetings, both improvised and more formal. This same space could take advantage of the projections on the new skin of the building, which would make it function as an open-air cinema.

It has also been thought of attending and attracting the infantile public of the population, approaching them to the cultural uses of the center. In this sense, it has been thought about the configuration of play areas according to the different ages and seasons of the year. There will be sandboxes and game parks designed with specialists in motor skills, balance and rhythm of the youngest. Also games that contribute to promote and grow the values ​​of our society, such as teamwork, solidarity and equality. We would not want to repeat uncritically models that have already been surpassed, which, moreover, are abandoned by unattractive children.

For the summer we think of water games based on jets that emerge from the ground and that serve to attract and refresh the little ones towards an area where it is assumed that the water runs through the ground and also cool the environment even without wetting it.

But it has also been thought of the new civic center as a pole of attraction for the elderly: play courts are available (petanque, bowling, etc.), outdoor senior gym - also designed with the participation of specialists, which will contribute to its use -, gaming tables for groups with less mobility, and even possible drinks, ice cream and other kiosks, where we would like to give access to young entrepreneurs who offer beverages and alternative products with ecological values ​​and that favor self-employment and local commerce and fair. In the same line, an area is designed for the management of a possible urban market.

All the above uses, properly combined to promote the social integration of all groups (children and parents, young and old, without distinction of gender, etc.) coexist with many of the current presences, such as trees and other plants. The idea is to generate an open and inclusive project where everyone finds their place.

Internally, and as already stated above, the requested program is organized with naturalness and freshness, but with media containment, trying to provide warmth and spatial and material quality.

We refuse to accept the difficult and uncomfortable dichotomy between conservation and patrimonial renovation, proposing an alternative that brings together both. It is a reversible strategy consisting of the generation of a second skin, an envelope of volume, which is barely touched, through a set of lamas that we imagine golden-in bold allusion to the unique and transforming value of culture for societies , and that has other learned references such as the Berlin Philharmonic by Hans Scharoum - and that would send a subliminal but unequivocal message.

However, this skin maintains the virtuality of serving as a neutral background on which to hang advertisements of cultural and / or citizen activities, which could be conventional materials such as cloth or plastic, but which could also respond to nocturnal and even daytime projections when the technology and the economy allow it and advise.

The requested interior program is responded with rigor and as much precision as possible, carefully studying the good coexistence of one or other uses and favoring the participation and inclusion of all visitors to the center. All the action is concentrated in the so-called Module A, foreseeing the installation in the right wing of reception, multipurpose rooms -with movable partitions that favor versatility-, offices and toilets. In the left wing a small theater or auditorium is proposed, with a dressing room area, on the ground floor, and a Music School with classrooms for instruments and a dance room with a management office.