Learning and Research Resource Centre, Teruel Campus

[Promenade], the proposal for the new Learning and Research Resources Centre (CRAI), aims to be a unique teaching complex within the city of Teruel, where the continent becomes a new educational element, exemplifying the principles of sustainability and energy efficiency. But at the same time it avoids the protagonism of the author, to dedicate itself to understanding the urban environment in which it is inserted, and to offer comfort to the end user. An optimised bioclimatic machine, prepared for the most prestigious environmental certifications, where each m2 fulfils its function, but which has a ‘soul’ within the university campus, offering spaces for meeting, learning and well-being.

The plot presents a series of characteristics that will condition the final implementation of the new CRAI, and which must be taken into account in the design process:

– Coexistence of the northern and eastern boundaries with road traffic routes with the consequent noise and pollution that these generate.
– Coexistence on the western boundary with gardens of the Campus itself, with an interesting possibility of connection.
– Slope of the plot itself and access roads that go from the +939.00 level in the north to the +936.00 in the south.
– Pure north-south orientation of the plot, which helps to achieve the relevant orientations for the attainment of energy objectives.

To achieve this, the typical typology of double bay with narrow interior corridor is avoided, where circulation is relegated to lower-ranking spaces lacking light and ventilation. The programmatic content is distributed in independent blocks, and they alternate to achieve maximum solar access both in interior and exterior spaces. A clear axis will run from north to south of the plot, overcoming the corresponding slopes, to distribute in an orderly manner the different ‘neighborhoods’. The east-west axis connects through green areas of the Campus garden with the new exterior spaces that will characterize the intervention.

Each block is articulated by placing the rooms with the lowest occupancy, frequency of use, or need for natural light in the north bay, thus generating a semi-buried ‘cushion’ space, while the rooms with the longest stay are concentrated in the south bay. The south orientation is considered optimal in a climate like that of Teruel, as it allows easy solar access in the cold season and easy protection in medium and warm seasons with horizontal elements.

The atrium that results between the two bays is consolidated as a bioclimatic engine, which presents spaces at double and triple heights, and whose skylights located on the roof, seek solar load, natural lighting, and natural ventilation through their opening, converting the atrium into a ventilation chimney.

Thus, the proposal is built encouraged from the first stroke by the need to make the operation of the new CRAI easy, but at the same time (and above all) to implement passive strategies that allow comfort levels to be achieved for most of the year without the need to consume energy.