ARQUITECTURE - DISTINCTION Project: MÓDULO PRIMEROS AUXILIOS Author: MMAMB / Màrius Quintana
PROJECT MEMO
Identical sites and equipment at every location along the coast were the starting point for the design of the new facilities that are being set up on the beaches to provide first aid services, washrooms and changing rooms for the disabled, drinks kiosks, rubbish containers, information and policing. Up until now beach facilities in the metropolitan area of Barcelona have not been regulated and varied from one township to another. The buildings are being designed as sets of cubes that together will deliver the various services. Cubes are simple, minimal shapes that impose discipline in the design of each of their component parts and in the strategy regarding where they are located, how many are used and how they are put together. As elements, cubes blend in with the beaches and are ‘friendly’ towards the beach landscape although they are neither a natural nor an organic shape, being the most extreme abstraction of rocks and beach huts in the middle of the greater landscape which is dominated by the sea and the sand. The material that most readily identifies the cubes is their ceramic mosaic tile cladding, which also serves as signage. Each of the building’s functions is colour-coded, with the colours easy for users to see from a long way off. Mosaic is a recyclable material that can easily be repaired if damaged and painted in an extensive range of colours. It is a material that is linked with traditional Mediterranean artisan work and with water and baths and is thus associated with the hygiene that is expected of public spaces.
Identical sites and equipment at every location along the coast were the starting point for the design of the new facilities that are being set up on the beaches to provide first aid services, washrooms and changing rooms for the disabled, drinks kiosks, rubbish containers, information and policing. Up until now beach facilities in the metropolitan area of Barcelona have not been regulated and varied from one township to another.
The buildings are being designed as sets of cubes that together will deliver the various services. Cubes are simple, minimal shapes that impose discipline in the design of each of their component parts and in the strategy regarding where they are located, how many are used and how they are put together.
As elements, cubes blend in with the beaches and are ‘friendly’ towards the beach landscape although they are neither a natural nor an organic shape, being the most extreme abstraction of rocks and beach huts in the middle of the greater landscape which is dominated by the sea and the sand.
The material that most readily identifies the cubes is their ceramic mosaic tile cladding, which also serves as signage. Each of the building’s functions is colour-coded, with the colours easy for users to see from a long way off.
Mosaic is a recyclable material that can easily be repaired if damaged and painted in an extensive range of colours. It is a material that is linked with traditional Mediterranean artisan work and with water and baths and is thus associated with the hygiene that is expected of public spaces.