Residencial San Mateo

The old residential building of San Mateo was among the most iconic structures of the city of Lorca, due to its unusual configuration with a central space opening onto Juan Carlos I Avenue. Having sustained serious damage during the earthquake of May 11th, 2011, its complete demolition was undertaken a month later.

  The project by MCEA | Arquitectura and NAOS 04 Arquitectos envisioned architecture as an instrument capable of making reconstruction viable through achieving the necessary consensus of all owners within the building. Thus it was seen as essential to incorporate into the draft process the experiences and different ways of living that each of the owners had developed over time, so that the reconstruction and occupation of new homes could be made the least traumatic possible.

Owners were also given the opportunity to incorporate into the project their current and future needs, through the design of flexible layouts that led in many cases to the availability of either new a single dwelling or two smaller ones. The end result of this participatory process was reflected in the final draft, which included 45 different dwelling typologies, thus achieving the acceptance of, and identification with, owners in the jointly developed project.

This process, which incorporated the willingness of each individual owner to contribute to the ordering and management of the whole group of dwellings, also sought to reflect a similar ethos in the design of the façade, through a general system of shutters in which the individual of owners could change the overall composition, thus obtaining an image of the building in constant flux and adaption to the needs of the individuals therein.

San Mateo Residential, Lorca, Spain
Program: housing
Architects: MCEA Arquitectura and NAOS 04 Arquitectos
Systems: Juan Manuel Vázquez Sánchez, ATP Ingenieros, DM Ingeniería
Structure: José Antonio Hernández Cañadas, QL Ingeniería, ALIVA Ingenieros
Execution management: Acrópolis Arquitectura
Acoustics: Sonen
Contractor: TECOPSA / DRAGADOS
Area: 23,802 sqm
Completion: 2016