Cornes Espacio Residencial in Santiago de Compostela

About

Located on the grounds of the old railway station, the development comprises 125 dwellings with 22 different typologies, both single-story units and duplex apartments. The urban plan foresaw the construction of three linear blocks and two open private spaces for public use as gathering areas. The shaping of the open spaces, for pedestrian use exclusively, is conditioned by their linear character. Resembling streets rather than plazas, they are placed in direct relationship with the ground levels of the buildings for residential use, which are longitudinally fragmented in two levels as a consequence of the unevenness of the terrain. Thus, a platform configured as a green corridor is formed, tracing the routes of transversal access to the apartments and of longitudinal access through the space maintaining a visual and ecological connection with the neighboring parks. A series of voids are incorporated into this space towards the floors below grade to allow ‘distancing’ the facades, adding trees, and taking natural light and ventilation into the garages and storerooms. The constructions above ground are three pieces between 60 and 100 meters in length and a 12-meter bay with overhangs around their perimeter. As a result of this design, the apartments open up to the exterior by means of a fully glazed envelope, foreseeing the use of the perimeter corridor in all units as an exterior space delimited by a latticework that, like a brise-soleil, filters sunlight and the views. For this enclosure the choice is a massive element that, distributed regularly, creates a weft of colored concrete – with 20x20 centimeter pieces separated by 80 centimeters. On ground level, a series of courtyards provide a buffer space.

Sources

• Arquitectura Viva