Torre Jaureguía | Apezteguia Architects

Contribution to the conservation and improvement of the European cultural patrimony "It exists in the northern part of Navarra a very curious type of farm house that reminds a lot the medieval towers of Baviera and Würtenberg. An enormous wooden superestructura raises on a solid vall of two storeys lifted made of manposteria, of generally square plant,. The stone built part contains stables, cellars and places for carriages and farm tools in the lower part and the room and the bedrooms on the floor. As for the other floors that are generally two, they only serve as barns. Big right feet laid on the lower storeys, support the grouped beams. The walls are built by strong beech and oak planks forming a voladizo ( a flying roof) in some houses (Donamaría). The four water roof, shape rarely used in this part of the Basque country. A very beautiful sample is the towered-house in Donamaría" ("Architecture of the Basque village" A. Baeschlin) Given the high historical and artistic value of the piece to intervene, the restoration we have planned is absolutely respectful, seeking to maintain or to recover, in its case, the original state of the way of building. It is evident, for any visitor that the towered house doesn't only owe, its value to its peculiar external aspect but rather its importance is based also on the mysterious space of its interior, such space that so well reflects all and each one of the characteristics of the Basque popular culture related to the house. For this reason, this project doesn't only seek to guarantee the conservation of some formal typological elements but besides it attempts, especially, the subsistence of all the capacity of suggestion of a spacial world born to absolutely take its roots on this land and this society 3.B.-DESCRIPTION OF THE CONTEXT IN WHICH THE PROYECT WAS UNDERTAKEN. INVESTIGATION. HISTORICAL REFERENCE. "The towered house of Donamaría, called "Jaureguía" (the palace) it is a typical tower of lineage of the decline of the Middle Age. Squared plant and built with robust columns, it conserves their primitive wooden scaffold at the present time, and it covers with four water roofs. In 1745 it belonged to Mr Joaquín Francisco of Ursua "Essentially Gothic fortification that it generalizes in the XIV century, particularly in Carlos the Second’s reign , and it lasts the whole XV century and the first years of the XVI century, until the conquest of Navarre by Fernando the Catholic"... ("Navarre. Castles and Palaces" J.J. Martinena) "... I am talking about the towered houses, about the palaces or elegant houses. The history teaches us how from the very first centuries of our era the Northern Spain had to defend of different invasions of foreigners and how the vascones were always distinguished for their individualism and their hardness in the fight. It is logical that several centuries of History have left samples of these defensive constructions that today don`t go on their first purpose becoming rural houses or simply stables and lofts of another neaighbour houses. There are some towers in Baztan that seem they have their origin in the latest years of the Low Middle Age: they look older and they still conserve the wood in abundance like building material. They were built of square plant, four water roof ended up in a diamond tip, with very few holes in the wall (sometimes some simple saeteras or holes to shoot arrows). Two samples in Arrayoz, Yauzarrea and Zubiria are the most representative. ("The rural house in the Baztán" A. Martinicorena) Technical and design problems involved and the elected solutions previous and during the works DEMOLITIONS AND CLEANINGS. In order to recover the vocational, space and structural aspect of the house, the intervention foresees to demolish of all those building elements that alter or get their physiognomy dirty. So that , the wooden partition that separates the kitchen from the entrance disappears in the first storey , in order to integrate the fireplace in the access space. They withdraw all the compartment items to recover the unity of these atmospheres in the second and third storeys. The demolition of the shed, placed outside, built in nowadays way that shelters a room and a toilet in order to recover the traditional image of the tower. In the lower storey we foresee cleaning and disinfection works to evacuate the organic detritus stored during years and to clean up, with it, the building ground and the outburst of the stone walls. READJUSTMENT OF FOUNDATIONS. The process of laundry of the foundation and of partial disintegration of the base of the stone wall have been taken in the SE and SW facades and the project by means of a consistent readjustment in the supplement of the current foundation with another of concrete, fixed to the previous one, besides the friction by bars of steel of high resistance. If in some moment, the top mark of the new foundation overcomes the level of the ground, the project foresees to cover it with soil and to sow with grass again. STONE FACADE. We will clean the base of the stone wall to fulfil the previous task by cleaning the joints and filling them again with liquid cement of high resistance that guarantees their long last We foresee a similar process to seal the cracks of the SE, SW and NW facades. And we have also projected the repair of the rejoint of the base under the same standards. Due to the conditions of the base reinstatement the quality and quality of the material will be like in form, dimension and disposition of the pieces, to those presented by the rest of the tower in good conservation state. THE WOODEN STRUCTURES The work on the wooden structure is different for the first two storeys or for the two last ones. In the base levels, the project decides to supplement the wooden beams, of great section and much light with metallic reinforcements that will impede the appearance of arrows, and they will allow a bigger load of the upper storeys. This task will keep away the pillars and to appear “apeos”. In the upper storeys we main the approach, on the other hand, we get off the items that load and we substitute the bad pieces When we lack in many pieces of the original structure, especially the props of the central and perimetral pillars of the second and third storeys and some secondary girders of the third storey, this work includes their reinstatement to recover the initial aspect of the structure and also to guarantee its correct work and operation. WOODEN FACADE. The project is awared that this element defines the more the building. It is extremely careful in the reinstatement of the wooden scaffold that is carried out with oak board, properly protected, of 3 cm. of thickness and 25 2 cms. of width. The height of the pieces is determined by the place of the perimeter structure and its restoration follows the same approaches that the wooden structure of these storeys that serves it as support. With this approach, the layers diminish progressively in height, at the time that some lay on other to guarantee a good evacuation of water. The sideway folds are designed as half wood. The windows open up small, in a conopial way those recovered and rectangular the other ones, clipped in the fine wooden layer. COVER. Most of the solivos and the diagonals supports are not in good condition and the project foresees the total substitution of the cover. The new cover, identical in shape and slope to the previous one solves with a similar structure the old one, in oak wood, on which supports a sandwich that contains inside a thermal isolation material. The lower end of this sandwich will consist on wooden oak planks that will show the current aspect of the entrecubierta quite faithfully. The upper end will be of Arabic tiles and of the recovery. 3.c.-DESCRIPTION OF THE FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE PROYECT Due to the high economic cost of the intervention, the project has been carried out in two successive phases: the first one that includes, in general lines, the consolidation of the foundation and the reparation and restoration of the stone base, besides the reinforcement of the wooden structure of the lower levels and of the total substitution of the cover, and the second that embraces, fundamentally, the performance on the wooden structure of the superior plants and the reinstatement of the scaffold. It would be desirable to reiterate what we announced previously about this project to continue the next adaptations of the palace to a concrete use and for it, this study dares to present, under the name of annexes, the enclosure solution that, for the author of the work, it would be convenient to carry out in the second and third layers , in order to get the estanco state and the necessary air conditioning to its habitability. This solution consists on the rising of a box of internal glass that, without impeding the vision of the external wooden box and without breaking into fragments a space deserved to be open, allow the attainment of the conditions of the right comfort for the modern life. These notes could serve in the wait for more concrete and rigorous studies. The works have been financed by the Institucion Principe de Viana of the Department of Education and Culture of the Navarre Government . Fdo: Maite Apezteguía Elso.