San Juan’s Monastery Rehabilitation

We propose an intervention that respects the history and the important heritage values of the built complex. The project, through a series of specific interventions, is capable of multiplying the uses of the complex. A strict response is given to the requested programme; a maximum energy efficiency approach is taken in the renovation of the installations and the criteria for the conservation of the building are described.

We have opted for a reform of the Access Building which, instead of occupying the garden, preserves it and turns it into a relevant part of the complex. Its ground floor houses part of the required programme and projects its views and use towards the garden. The upper floors house the administration, management, library and the office of the person in charge of dissemination, as well as other service spaces. The scientific area is located in the current warehouse, on the second level of the Cloister, which is fitted out to house its function in optimum conditions.

In the absence of a complete characterisation of the current load-bearing structure of the building, it is difficult to determine which operation, renovation or replacement, is more reasonable and economical. The project proposes the most economical version in principle: the shoring up of the current floor slabs on the south façade and the construction of a mezzanine for service uses, as well as the reconfiguration of the current vertical communication core to improve its fire safety conditions and accessibility. The roof would only be modified on the core bay in order to house the climate control installations there, protected from view.

If the current load-bearing structure proves inadequate, the option of a complete replacement of the construction without altering the configuration of the proposed spaces is possible. In this case, a new timber-structured construction would be planned, in continuity with the construction logic of the two previous interventions carried out in the Monastery. Both options are possible with this project and the final decision would be taken in agreement with the administration responsible for the contract once all the circumstances have been studied.