Xánadu and the Red Wall

This 18-apartment building, as part of the La Manzanera development, was a prototype experiment in applying a methodology to the team’s theory of a garden city in space and should be read as one of many large interconnecting elements.

The building took the castle as its point of reference, and evolved in such a way as to arrive at a configuration inspired by the nearby Peñon de Ifach crag. The unit of each apartment is composed of three cubes corresponding to living space, sleeping space and services. These three cubes are grouped around the vertical axis of the stair well which serves to support them. The cubes are then applied to the supporting circulation spine determined on an orthogonal grid, then broken down to satisfy the particular requirements of the program: in this case, shaded internal terraces to avoid the intense heat, hyperbolic roofs for better views, and adaptation to local building techniques.

No plans or elevations were drawn during construction, but each unit has its exterior walls pierced according to orientation, light needs, kitchen extractor fans, ventilators, privacy, and connection points, and was positioned after model analysis diagrammatically on the engineer’s structural drawings.

The rigid geometry of the cube, the basis of the initial structure, was fractured on the exterior angles in order to create an irregular façade with a spectacular interplay of light and shadow and multiple views of the landscape.

Send by mail    Share

- See more at: http://www.ricardobofill.com/EN/662/architecture/portfolio/xanadu-apartments-in-calpe.html#sthash.Bm5wLgly.dpuf

All photos: DC

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
   Down to a sunless sea....

Do you remember Ricardo Bofill's beginnings in the 1960s and 70s? His ulra-mod resorts and mega-structures for the working-class? I made the pilgrimage to Xánadu (1966-71) and the Red Wall (1969-73) in Calpe, on the Mediterranean coast of Alicante, for my vacation this summer, but the verses on my mind were not by Coleridge but rather those of Juan Agustín Goytisolo, the poet member of Bofill's Taller de Arquitectura, whose ode to Xánadu comes from a time even more remote, it seems, than that of Coleridge:
 
"Hace frío la brisa me despeina
y trae olor a sal de mares muertos
frente a antiguas ciudades.
    Corro subo
cruzo pasillos atalayo el tiempo
y veo alzarse las banderas que odio
al pie de Jericó....."

"Its cold and the breeze messes my hair
and brings the odor of salt from dead seas
before ancient cities.
    I run, climb
Cross passageways tower in time
and I see the flags I hate rising
at the feet of Jericho...."

So perhaps the best reading companion for my photos are the texts from Bofill's own webpage. On Xánadu: 

"This 18-apartment building, as part of the La Manzanera development, was a prototype experiment in applying a methodology to the team’s theory of a garden city in space, and should be read as one of many large interconnecting elements."

"The building took the castle as its point of reference, and evolved in such a way as to arrive at a configuration inspired by the nearby Peñon de Ifach crag. Each apartment unit is composed of three cubes corresponding to living space, sleeping and services. These three cubes are grouped around the vertical axis of the stair well which supports them. The cubes are ... applied to the supporting circulation spine based on an orthogonal grid, and then broken down to satisfy the particular requirements of the program: in this case, shaded internal terraces to avoid the intense heat, hyperbolic roofs for better views, and adaption to local building techniques."

"No plans or elevations were drawn during construction, but each unit has its exterior walls pierced according to orientation, light needs, ... privacy, [etc]...."

"The rigid geometry of the cube, the basis of the initial structure, was fractured on the exterior angles in order to create an irregular façade with a spectacular interplay of light and shadow and multiple views of the landscape."

Source:
http://www.ricardobofill.com/EN/662/architecture/portfolio/xanadu-apartments-in-calpe.html

Xánadu from the roof terraces of the Red Wall

The Red Wall (Muralla Roja) covers an even wider range of oneiric visual references, from the staircases of M. C: Escher to the casbahs and fortresses of Northern Africa. With its apartments accessed solely via narrow exterior staircases, and a labyrinth of passageways and roofless rooms on the roof terraces, I did find it rather obsessively reiterative, compared to the more picturesque approach of Xánadu.

We met one of the original owners, sunning himself on his private terrace beside his tiny rooftop studio.

Here's the spiel on the project from Bofill's web page:

Within the context of La Manzanera, La Muralla Roja (The Red Wall) asks to be considered as a case apart. It embodies a clear reference to the popular architecture of the Arab Mediterranean, in particular to the adobe towers of North Africa. The Red Wall is like a fortress which marks a vertical silhouette following the contour lines of the rocky cliff.  With this building the Taller de Arquitectura wanted to break the post-Renaissance division between public and private spaces reinterpretating the Mediterranean tradition of the casbah. The labyrinth of this recreated casbah corresponds to a precise geometric plan based on the typology of the Greek cross with arms 5 meters long, these being grouped in different ways, with service towers (kitchens and bathrooms) at their point of intersection. The geometric basis of the layout is also an approximation to the theories of constructivism, and makes La Muralla Roja a very clear evocation of these.

The forms of the building, evoking a constructivist aesthetic, create an ensemble of interconnected patios which provide access to the 50 apartments, which include 60 sqm studios, and two- and three-bedroom apartments of 80 and 120 sqm, respectively. On the roof terraces there are solariums, a swimming pool, and a sauna for resident’s use.

The criterion of applying to the building a gamut of various colours responds to the intention to give a determined relief to the distinct architectural elements, according to their structural functions.

The outside surfaces are painted in various tones of red, to accentuate the contrast with the landscape; patios an stairs, however, area treated with blue tones, such as sky-blue, indigo, violet, to produce a stronger or weaker contrast with the sky or, on the contrary, an optical effect of blending in with it. The intensity of the colours is also related to the light and shows how the combination of these elements can help create a greater illusion of space. - See more at: http://www.ricardobofill.com/EN/670/Architecture/PORTFOLIO/La-Muralla-Roja-html#sthash.UYehgCNJ.dpuf

This 18-apartment building, as part of the La Manzanera development, was a prototype experiment in applying a methodology to the team’s theory of a garden city in space and should be read as one of many large interconnecting elements.

The building took the castle as its point of reference, and evolved in such a way as to arrive at a configuration inspired by the nearby Peñon de Ifach crag. The unit of each apartment is composed of three cubes corresponding to living space, sleeping space and services. These three cubes are grouped around the vertical axis of the stair well which serves to support them. The cubes are then applied to the supporting circulation spine determined on an orthogonal grid, then broken down to satisfy the particular requirements of the program: in this case, shaded internal terraces to avoid the intense heat, hyperbolic roofs for better views, and adaptation to local building techniques.

No plans or elevations were drawn during construction, but each unit has its exterior walls pierced according to orientation, light needs, kitchen extractor fans, ventilators, privacy, and connection points, and was positioned after model analysis diagrammatically on the engineer’s structural drawings.

The rigid geometry of the cube, the basis of the initial structure, was fractured on the exterior angles in order to create an irregular façade with a spectacular interplay of light and shadow and multiple views of the landscape.

Send by mail    Share

- See more at: http://www.ricardobofill.com/EN/662/architecture/portfolio/xanadu-apartments-in-calpe.html#sthash.Bm5wLgly.dpuf

"La Muralla Roja (The Red Wall) … embodies a clear reference to the popular architecture of the Arab Mediterranean, in particular to the adobe towers of North Africa. The Red Wall is like a fortress which marks a vertical silhouette following the contour lines of the rocky cliff. With this building the Taller de Arquitectura wanted to break the post-Renaissance division between public and private spaces, reinterpretating the Mediterranean tradition of the casbah. The labyrinth of this recreated casbah corresponds to a precise geometric plan based on the typology of the Greek cross with arms 5 meters long, these being grouped in different ways, with service towers (kitchens and bathrooms) at their point of intersection. The geometric basis of the layout is also an approximation to the theories of constructivism, and makes La Muralla Roja a very clear evocation of these."

"The forms of the building ... create an ensemble of interconnected patios ...[which] provide access to the 50 apartments, which include 60 sqm studios, and two- and three-bedroom apartments of 80 and 120 sqm, respectively. On the roof terraces there are solariums, a swimming pool, and a sauna for resident’s use."

"The outside surfaces are painted in various tones of red, to accentuate the contrast with the landscape; patios an stairs, however, area treated with blue tones, such as sky-blue, indigo, violet, to produce a stronger or weaker contrast with the sky or, on the contrary, an optical effect of blending in with it. The intensity of the colours is also related to the light and shows how the combination of these elements can help create a greater illusion of space."

Source:
http://www.ricardobofill.com/EN/670/Architecture/PORTFOLIO/La-Muralla-Roja-htmlhttp://www.ricardobofill.com/EN/670/Architecture/PORTFOLIO/La-Muralla-Roja-html

First quote: Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Second quote: José Agustín Goytisolo, "Taller de arquitectura", Lumen, Barcelona, 1977.

This 18-apartment building, as part of the La Manzanera development, was a prototype experiment in applying a methodology to the team’s theory of a garden city in space and should be read as one of many large interconnecting elements.

The building took the castle as its point of reference, and evolved in such a way as to arrive at a configuration inspired by the nearby Peñon de Ifach crag. The unit of each apartment is composed of three cubes corresponding to living space, sleeping space and services. These three cubes are grouped around the vertical axis of the stair well which serves to support them. The cubes are then applied to the supporting circulation spine determined on an orthogonal grid, then broken down to satisfy the particular requirements of the program: in this case, shaded internal terraces to avoid the intense heat, hyperbolic roofs for better views, and adaptation to local building techniques.

No plans or elevations were drawn during construction, but each unit has its exterior walls pierced according to orientation, light needs, kitchen extractor fans, ventilators, privacy, and connection points, and was positioned after model analysis diagrammatically on the engineer’s structural drawings.

The rigid geometry of the cube, the basis of the initial structure, was fractured on the exterior angles in order to create an irregular façade with a spectacular interplay of light and shadow and multiple views of the landscape.

Send by mail    Share

- See more at: http://www.ricardobofill.com/EN/662/architecture/portfolio/xanadu-apartments-in-calpe.html#sthash.Bm5wLgly.dpuf