OS3 arkitektura

Potxonea House . Usurbil

fotos: © Jorge Allende . + archdaily

The building is located on Irazu Street 4, in Usurbil, and is the last of a set of buildings that make up the historical city-center, and so is a building with a remarkable background.

This linear addition of buildings separates two large public spaces: Dema plaza (the main plaza of Usurbil) and Askatasuna Plaza, recently built.
The hierarchy of the two plazas is reflected in the composition of the building complex, materializing in two opposing fronts. The front facing Dema Plaza is composed of facades of load-bearing walls, small-sized openings, and finishings in ashlar stone noble; the front facing Askatasuna Plaza shows a more modest facade of wooden frames and larger openings.

Both plazas are connected by two permeable zones with low-growing plant life, but the dialogue between the buildings and the plazas differ significantly. Virtually all main entrances and the best finishings are concentred on the side facing Dema plaza, leaving Askatasuna plaza in the background.
The Potxoenea building was the last on Irazu, before the Church, and was separated from the adjacent building by a narrow, fenced alleyway (1.7 m wide) in disrepair.
This building, owned by the Municipality, although previously used for residential use, had been empty for years and was in poor structural condition.
The Special Plan for the Preservation of the Urban Core required the preservation of the facade facing Dema plaza as well as determined the basic parameters of the rehabilitative intervention.