The place
In the southernmost part of Navarre, near the desert-like landscape of the Bardenas and surrounded by the green
of the market gardens and orchards along the banks of the Ebro River lies Tudela, the second city in the region
in terms of both size and importance and one of the main eolic energy producers in Europe.
The site for the four-star hotel is a wheat field, located 3 km from Tudela’s town center and 4 km away from the
Bardenas Reales de Navarra, a spectacular natural park with semi-desert landscape.
Commission
The clients, who had no prior experience in the hospitality business, commissioned a one storey, 22 room hotel on the wheat field which is surrounded by an imposing landscape; the arid Bardenas on one side and the green cultivated fields, the Ebro River and Tudela on the other. A strong characteristic of the site is its exposure to very strong winds –hence the name of the hotel, meaning Air in Spanish– and the extreme temperatures. Conditions established by the clients from the beginning of the project were for the new building to be built using
entirely dry-construction and to work as much as possible with steel elements, as they counted with the collaboration of an excellent local metal worker.
Another determining condition was the limited budget and construction time; it had to be completed with 1.8 million euros and finished in 12 onths from the city construction permit approval's date. After initial meetings with the client, in order to meet the budgetary constraints, we decided to employ a system of metal sandwich façade panels with a rigid foam core, because of its fast assembly time, the metal fabricator's prior experience in handling this material, its excellent thermal insulation qualities. The steel elements and façade panels were prefabricated at the metal shop while the site work, installations and concrete slabs were being completed, and later assembled on site extremely fast. The building was completed in 12 months.
Design Concept
Given the site's great views and strong winds, we conceived the hotel as a succession of protected and comfortable interior spaces from which to contemplate the exterior.
The architecture, interior spaces and landscape design, seek to bring the dweller close to the rural and austere character of the surroundings by providing simple, generous and silent spaces.
Recycled, large wooden containers typically found in Tudela's crop fields for fruit and vegetable recollection and transportation were employed as windbreakers for the hotel’s outdoor spaces. They stop strong wind while
allowing air to pass, need no foundations or fixings and are easy to move.
From the exterior, the hotel intentionally blurs with the surroundings. It presents itself as a lightweight construction that can be dismantled and recycled, recalling the local agricultural constructions, such as barns and vegetable coops found in the area.
The building
In its arrangement, the hotel keeps the forms of the noble constructions found in the riverbank area, the Ribera, which developed around a central court, offering climactic protection. The entral court, generated by a series of orthogonal constructions, gives its back to the Cierzo (the 2 / 2 strong north-west wind) and opens up to the southeast, where a plantation of poplar trees and the pool are located.
The building is composed by a series of simple monochromatic cubic tructures. Their dispersed arrangement allows views through the interstitial spaces, minimizing a massive appearance and generating an animated play of light and shadow. Through an ordered plantation of white-flower cherry trees, one enters the hotel’s main body which houses the common areas – reception area, main hall, meeting room, bar and restaurant– and 10 rooms with private patios, each with a fruit tree. The rest of the rooms are freestanding pavilions with large projecting windows overlooking the open landscape. Access to these rooms is through an exterior walkway, providing them with a private and privileged character by their being right out in the wheat fields. The treatment of the exterior spaces, translate the characteristic forms, colors and vegetations of the Bardenas desert and the surrounding irrigation fields: ordered plantations of fruit trees, vegetable gardens, scattered placement of aromatic plants such as rosemary and thyme.
Ground surfaces were covered with local reddish earth and boulders extracted from the site, which mark the limit between the wheat plantation and the hotel. Smaller boulders and pebbles were also used as aggregate for the exterior and interior polished concrete floors, resulting in particular terrazzo finish.
Rooms
Upon entering the rooms, separating the entry from the sleeping area, one finds a vestibule-like space with a freestanding and open furniture piece that offers a comfortable and generous place to leave belongings and avoid having them visually cluster the sleeping area. It also contains the mini-bar, safe and shelves with outlets for recharging electronic items. The toilet has its own separate space with door while the shower or bathtub is adjacent to a window or a door (in the case of the rooms with private patio) and to the bed area separated by airy white cotton curtains. The bathtubs, shower plates, ashbasins -fabricated in folded and powder-coated steel sheet- and most of the furniture (beds, tables, luggage furniture, armchairs in main hall, low stools...) were designed by the architects specifically for this project and made by the metal fabricator who did the building.
Inhabitable window
To reinforce the idea of the rooms as protected outdoorviewing devices, we created projecting windows with no visible glass frame from the interior. The windowsill becomes inhabitable by the exaggeration of its depth and by lining its interior with plywood. This lining conceals the glass’ metal frame and the solar filtering devices that roll down electrically. The window is perceived as a simple unglazed opening that creates a false perception of thickness not inherent to the light construction employed.
These inhabitable windows become snug places to read or watch the TV, or simply to contemplate the views. It serves also as seating or as an extra bed for the rooms. Their orientation is mainly northeast to allow seeing the illuminated landscape, without receiving direct sunlight.
En medio de un imponente paisaje con una fuerte presencia del viento de noroeste (el cierzo), el hotel se concibe como una sucesión de espacios interiores protegidos y confortables para contemplar el exterior.
Se trata de un hotel de 4 estrellas ubicado en un campo de trigo a 3 km del casco antiguo de Tudela y próximo a las Bardenas Reales de Navarra, un parque natural con paisajes desérticos espectaculares. El hotel que se desarrolla en planta baja, cuenta con 22 habitaciones, 13 de las cuales disponen de un jardín privado.
La estructura del edificio es de acero y toda la construcción se realizó en seco excepto las soleras de hormigón. Las fachadas se componen de paneles sandwich para reducir tiempos de ejecución.
El hotel se presenta pues como una construcción ligera, desmontable y reciclable, asociada a las construcciones agrícolas que se encuentran en la zona. Desde el exterior, el edificio se confunde con el entorno. Cajas que habitualmente son utilizadas en la zona para recolectar y transportar fruta y verduras, forman la fachada principal del hotel. Se utilizan como cerramientos y rompevientos para los espacios exteriores del hotel ya que detienen el viento pero permiten el paso del aire, no necesitan cimientos ni fijaciones y son fáciles de mover. En su implantación el hotel guarda las formas de las construcciones nobles de la Ribera desarrolladas entorno a un patio central, ofreciendo así protección
climatológica del lugar. Así este patio formado por una serie de construcciones ortogonales, da la espalada al Cierzo y se abre a sureste donde se proyecta un bosque de chopos y la piscina.
El edificio se compone de una serie de estructuras sencillas, monocromáticas y cúbicas. Su posición dispersa permite ver a través de los espacios intersticiales, minimizando una apariencia masiva y generando un juego de luces y sombras.
A través de un cultivo ordenado de cerezos, se accede al cuerpo principal del conjunto que alberga las zonas comunes -recepción, salón principal, sala de juntas, bar y restaurante- y 10 habitaciones con patio propio y árbol frutal. El resto de las habitaciones son pabellones exentos con grandes ventanas proyectantes que miran hacia el campo. A estas habitaciones se accede mediante una pasarela exterior, dotándolas de un carácter privado y privilegiado por estar adentradas en pleno paisaje. Los espacios exteriores trasladan las formas, colores y vegetaciones características del desierto bardenero y de los campos de regadío: siembras de árboles y de trigo, huertos de verduras y la colocación dispersa y aislada de plantas aromáticas como el romero y tomillo. Las superficies exteriores se recubren de tierra granítica drenante de la zona y de canto rodado grande extraído del solar que perimetralmente delimita el recinto del cultivo de trigo. La misma piedra de menor tamaño se utilizó también como árido pulido visto para los pavimentos de hormigón tanto en el interior como en el exterior, resultando en un acabado cercano a los suelos del desierto bardenero.
La arquitectura, los interiores y los jardines buscan acercarse al carácter rural y a la belleza del austero paisaje circundante, ofreciendo ambientes despejados, sencillos y silenciosos de descanso y confort.
La ventana habitable
Para enfatizar la idea de las habitaciones como miradores protegidos, creamos unas ventanas salientes sin el marco de la carpintería visible desde el interior.
La profundidad de la ventana se exagera y se reviste interiormente de madera contrachapada para ser ocupadas. Este revestimiento esconde el marco de la carpintería y las cortinas tamizadoras y oscurecedoras enrollables que bajan motorizadas. De día la ventana se percibe como un simple hueco sin vidrio que crea una falsa percepción de grosor, no inherente a la construcción ligera utilizada.
Estas ventanas salientes, a veces "charladeras", se convierten en rincones para leer, ver la TV (integrada en los laterales) o contemplar el exterior. Cumplen también la función de sofá y de cama supletoria. Se orientan principalmente a noreste para ver el paisaje iluminado sin recibir el sol directo.