The initial decision of the project consists of a pedestrian connection between the two streets of the site: Via Augusta – urban scale – and Saragossa street – neighborhood artery – which allows entry to both the new building and the old one at their midpoint and independently. In front of Via Augusta, an outdoor space is created that leads to the ground floor of the new facility and houses the green steps for access to the Vil·la Urània.
To improve the relationship of the new facility with the neighboring homes, generously lit courtyards with vegetation are introduced, enhancing the transparency of the walls and placing the activities of the facility on the opposite side. It is proposed as a building with a light appearance, fragmented, with terraces and balconies, combining the transparency of large openings with the filter of the slats and vegetation. The heights are adjusted to the neighboring buildings for a better volumetric transition, trying to consolidate the urban block.
The existence of several overlapping programs requires combining mechanisms to guarantee their independence as well as the possibility of developing on more than one floor. The first objective is achieved by two protected staircases and elevators, the second, two open staircases that relate common programs, formalized more as a space of relationship than as a simple functional communication. The terraces and double spaces allow, for their part, to establish richer visual relationships in the public parts. The program concludes with a covered wing, as a platform that houses the urban gardens and a series of thermal solar panels, and which also serves as a viewpoint on the opposite dividing wall, remodeled as a pedagogical atlas on constellations, as a reminder of the astronomical origin of the villa.
