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Architects: Vértice Arquitectura
- Area: 134 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:Javier de Paz García
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Lead Architects: Vértice Arquitectura
Text description provided by the architects. The self-commissioning of a space destined for the office of our own architecture studio is the result of this rehabilitation in the Historic Center of our city, Toledo, in what was an abandoned sheet metal and paint workshop in the late 1970s.
The space is freed from partitions and coatings, to give prominence to the masonry of the city wall from the 17th century, with reused Roman ashlars from the ancient Roman circus of Toledo, on the Islamic foundation wall from the 9th century, and the four Vidales Madrid cast iron columns from 1906. The central area is developed as a collaborative workspace, with a mobile library attached to one of the party walls located in modules with wheels.
The sides are destined for the more collective areas: the meeting-presentation area with natural lighting, and the area intended for the office and service rooms. The installation rooms (toilets, kitchen, and lockers) are used to simplify the geometry, paneling them with an acoustic latticework of marine plywood veneered in oak. The space between the office and the kitchen is left as an informal meeting point and dining area associated with the small kitchen.
The facade of the premises recovers the original openings that have emerged after the removal of cement coatings, and they open up to the light of the sunset by flaring the sides to the west, allowing for greater solar utilization. The metal framing frames the openings and resolves the installation of the carpentry.
In response to a north-facing orientation of the windows, the lighting is resolved indirectly with an accent lighting system hidden in the existing beams and in the grooving of the baseboard where it meets the historic walls. For functional lighting, the studio has designed linear LED luminaires, in contrast to the order of the beam and barrel ceilings, with home automation regulation that guarantees up to 500 lux per square meter on the work surfaces.
The floor consists of a ventilated exterior slab-type cavity to prevent moisture from contact with the ground, on which a polished concrete pavement is developed between steel plates with a salt and pepper finish and a matte protector, which houses the radiant-cooling floor, separated from the original walls built with reused ashlars from the Roman Circus on the Islamic foundation wall from the 9th century, where accent LED lighting is used.
The tables have been designed by the architecture studio itself, using a metal plate structure and laminated board with a geometry that adapts to the irregularity of the space, generating spacious workstations that allow for collaboration among users.
