Page 87 - AIT1220_E-Paper

Entwurf • Design Estudio González, ES-Valladolid
Grundriss Erdgeschoss • Ground floor plan
Grundriss Obergeschoss • Upper floor plan
Bauherr • Client TGSS, ES-Oviedo
Standort • Location ES-Oviedo
Nutzfläche • Floor space 2.898 m 2
Fotos • Photos Luis Díaz Díaz, ES-Vigo
Mehr Infos auf Seite • More info on page 134
SOCIAL INSURANCE
IN OVIEDO
Bright red window frames make the passers-by look
up whenever they are hurrying across Plaza de la Es-
candalera in Oviedo. The striking colour belongs to the
municipal headquarters of the Spanish social insu-
rance. With the unusual choice of colour, the architects
of Estudio Gonzáles succeeded in adding a contempo-
rary element to the historic façade.
S triking contrasts characterize the interventions which the Spanish
architectural office carried out on the building of almost one hun-
dred years. Designed by the architect Manuel del Busto in 1922, the
existing building bears quite an interesting architectural history. On
his travels to France and England, del Busto became familiar with the,
at the time, still innovative building with light-weight metal construc-
tions. Back home again, he used this technology for the first time for
the building in Plaza de la Escandalera where TGSS is now located.
The construction, whose façade shows clear borrowings from the style
of regionalism, joins the ranks of similarly innovative buildings all
around the square. Initially planned and constructed as a residential
building, in the 1960s its two lower levels were used as the branch of
a bank. During that period originated the prestigious marble-clad en-
trance hall and the staircase which have both been preserved until
today. In the course of the many years and a variety of uses, an eclec-
tic mixture of styles resulted which the architects of Estudio Gonzáles
have now attempted to preserve and update with a complex refur-
bishment. As the owner of the building, the social insurance had al-
ready been using some of the storeys as office premises and decided
to expand the area due to the renovation in order to combine in one
place the sections for sick pay, unemployment benefits and care allo-
wances as well as pensions. For this purpose, technical as well as
energetic innovations were necessary which had to be reconciled with
the existing architecture. Barrier-free access was designed by covering
the centrally positioned inner courtyard and cleverly assigning to it the
new function of a lift shaft. At the same time, the room programme
was also newly structured. Where, formerly, living spaces had been
are now areas for numerous workstations. Again and again, historic
and contemporary elements meet: marble meets red colour, riveted
steel girders meet perforated metal plate, round arches meet glass
partitions. The architects turned an arbitrary-looking mixture into a
Axonometrie • Axonometry collage of materials, colour and forms which is full of contrasts.
AIT 12.2020 • 087