The location of the Flora Tristán Student dorm is due to the special commitment that relates Pablo de Olavide University with its neighboring quarter: the so called “3.000viviendas” in Seville, long time known as one of the most derelict neighborhoods in Spain.
The existing student dorm is located off campus, offering rental apartments for students. The purpose of this intervention is to offer new facilities for the students, as well as spaces to share activities with the neighboring community, as well as new administration spaces for the management of the University dorm.
The departure point was the parking space of the building, at the ground floor level. The purpose of the intervention is to open the building to the neighborhood, thus contributing to its renovation by interacting with the community. A new shared space is created, extending public space to the interior of the building. A new façade of the dorm emerges, built with polycarbonate, offering new lobbies to the student dorm.. This waving façade also creates room for two exhibition spaces, a bar and a lecture hall.
Natural light enters the new space through the west façade, as well as through three new patios resulting from the extension of the existing patios down to the ground floor. The polycarbonate façade also goes up to the roof, covering the patios: the rain and the wind may then enter the building, increasing its open and public character to the street level.
Two new facilities are added. A new conference room takes advantage of the ramp going down to the underground parking, with a sloped concrete slab. The new management facilities are located within a glass box. A twisting interior wall inside of this box creates room for them, as well as for the library and the study room.
