Renovation and Expansion of the Irura Town Hall / BARRU ARKITEKTURA SLP

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The design of the volume is sculpted, reacting at the ground level to the urban pedestrian routes through chamfered corners. At the same time, the slatted exterior provides a changing, warm texture that shifts with the light and shadows throughout the day and varies with the seasons.The expansion's structure is made of CLT (cross-laminated timber) pine from local sources with a low carbon footprint. For the facade, 10 cm of wood fiber insulation and a black waterproof and breathable membrane are placed over the structural panels. As the final outer layer, a cladding of technological wood slats is mounted on horizontal wooden battens. The building has an A energy certification, does not consume fossil fuels, and generates a high percentage of its energy through renewable sources.Text description provided by the architects.The Town Hall building is in the village square, opposite the Church. The project aims to rehabilitate and expand the original building, which has a roughly square layout and features a characteristic rural architecture typical of farmhouses, with visible ashlar stone elements. Its shortcomings in terms of accessibility and energy efficiency prompted a comprehensive renovation and a 50% increase in its usable area.The expansion is designed with a polyhedral and abstract volumetry, distinctly different from the existing architecture. It asserts its condition as an annex volume with a contemporary language through a skin of vertical slats that relegates the facade openings to the background. This new volumetry is presented as a veil that only partially reveals some openings behind a continuous wooden slatting. In this way, the new openings are intended to remain behind the veil, avoiding distortion of the original composition.The design submitted for the competition emphasizes a respectful dialogue with the existing structure. It maintains the building's framework and its most characteristic features, such as the facade openings and materiality, while adding a new, clearly differentiated body. Inside, a north-south communication axis is created, with the elevator in the existing building and the staircase in the expanded part. The roof is a unifying element for the entire project, and the elevator shaft acts as a light well.