There is a new community center at the entrance to Barcelona: Porta Trinitat by HAZ Arquitectura is a wooden building that serves as a multifunctional complex and has the characteristics of a passive house. The architects wanted to create a cozy place in Trinitat Vella that attracts people with different needs.
Portra Trinitat is located on one of Barcelona’s central streets on the outskirts of the city. The surrounding buildings promote an introspective design. For the “Center for Community Life”, the architects from HAZ designed two buildings that are oriented towards the two main streets Meridiana and Carretera de Ribes. There is an inner square in the middle.
In the community center, a modern wooden building, there is space for an open-air cinema and many other uses. The building is open to people from Sant Andreu and Nous Barris. As there were many waves of immigration from southern Spain here in the 1950s and 1960s, the district is characterized by strong cohesion and solidarity. The Center for Community Life supplements the missing living spaces and offers a meeting place for everyone.
The interior of the building in Trinitat Vella is organized around two inner courtyards that provide light and ventilation. The entrance hall consists of a spacious room that serves as a foyer for the auditorium and provides space for various activities and exhibitions. There is also a reception and a canteen. On the second floor there is a center for social services and a contact point for women. Offices and rooms for neighborhood facilities and associations occupy the other floors.
What makes the Centre for Community Life special is its building material: it is made of wood, a warm material in the midst of the rather inhospitable urban environment. The architects buried pipes during the excavation work, which now provide clean air. The subsoil regulates the temperature of the air and releases it into the two covered inner courtyards, which thus act as air ducts. The ventilation is cool in summer and warm in winter. Thanks to this old Mediterranean method, pleasant temperatures of around 18°C prevail all year round, meaning that additional heating is only required on a few days.
The building’s stairwell is located between the two inner courtyards. It receives light and lighting. There are other rooms around the central core that capture the air through the terrace façades. According to the architects, this can be compared to the gills of a fish.
The timber construction in Trinitat Vella is outstanding in terms of its energy efficiency and qualifies as a passive house. In addition to geothermal energy, the terraces also play an important role as ventilation openings. There is also a ventilated façade made of larch wood, which offers vapor barriers with different permeability thanks to various layers of gypsum fiber boards and rock wool. This prevents condensation.
The larch wood slats along the façade also serve as sun protection. They extend horizontally to the south and vertically to the east and west. And thanks to the reduced building weight with a steel skeleton and CLT timber panels, it was possible to reduce the community center’s CO2 emissions. Small pipes and installations can be routed between the beams as required.
There are also photovoltaic panels on the roof, which have an output of 60,000 watts. This is enough to operate the elevators, regulate the climate in addition to the geothermal energy, provide lighting and power normal building use. The geothermal energy also helps with the pre-treatment of fresh air via a Canadian well. The resulting condensation water from the well is collected and later used as irrigation water.
The Barcelona Energy Agency has selected the HAZ Arquitectura building as a pilot project to be studied and optimized over time. Among other things, this involves the reaction of larch wood to fire. This material covers the entire façade. It is particularly hard and weather-resistant. With the help of a stain, it is possible to reduce darkening over time, making the wood suitable for use in the Mediterranean region. To make the wood fireproof, the moisture was extracted and a waterproof glaze applied. This needs to be replaced after an estimated five years, which should be possible using a spray gun from a lifting basket.
Overall, the building is designed for a 50-year service life. It was designed as a dry construction and detailed using BIM technology. This made it possible to produce virtually no waste during construction and to assemble the building quickly and precisely. At the end of its useful life, the cataloged components can be used for new locations and projects.
The project is the work of architects Manuel Sánchez-Villanueva and Carol Beuter from HAZ Arquitectura, a Barcelona-based studio with extensive experience in the construction of public and private facilities in the health, cultural and social sectors. The Center for Community Life is the first building in the future complex. The architects therefore opted for a simple, abstract exterior design that opens out onto a future square.
Wood is the most commonly used material in the construction of the center. It was chosen for its comfort and low environmental impact. As a passive house, it shows how energy and material consumption can be minimized. At the same time, Mediterranean traditions are used to regulate ventilation and temperature – a true innovation in the form of a community center.
