Spanish architect Joan J Fortuny and studio Alventosa Morell Arquitectes have created 54 social housing units in Inca, Mallorca, wrapped in larch shutters and perforated bricks. Located on an empty plot at the edge of the town, the project provides socially rented flats for low-income tenants and is designed as a response to its urban context.
The line of action has been, in the first place, the implementation of a series of passive strategies that reduce the energy demand for both heating and cooling. Consequently, all the dwellings have cross ventilation, solar protection, high thermal inertia in floors and walls, as well as materials capable of hygroscopically regulating humidity and transpiring.
The building is strategically designed so that in winter it has maximum solar gain, accumulating this energy in the inertia of the construction itself. The design also incorporates patios, terraces and private gardens in the dwellings that allow for improved ventilation. The vegetation in these spaces regulates sunlight, temperature, and humidity. Thanks to these strategies, the heating demand is only 0.01 kWh/m2 per year.
On the other hand, the project incorporates highly energy-efficient active systems: DHW generation by means of an aerothermal system and ventilation of the dwellings with recuperators associated with a community aerothermal system (1 unit for every 18 dwellings) which tempers the air in the dwellings with a constant flow that adapts to the air conditioning and cooling demands. Finally, the installation of photovoltaic panels on the roof guarantees autonomous consumption according to demand. All this guarantees the use of the natural energy of the houses, achieving a building with practically zero consumption.
Joan J Fortuny
The housing module is organised around a central wet core that defines two zones with double orientation. The location of the day and night areas varies in height, generating different housing typologies per floor.
The external walls are made of a double local ceramic sheet with insulation of recycled cork and local lime. The exterior carpentry is made of aluminium with RTP and the solar protection is made of larch wood with sustainable exploitation certificate, all made by local carpenters. The interior floor and wall coverings are ceramic tiles made of local clay fired with biomass by local craftsmen. The lime paint is applied directly on the ceramic walls.
In the ground floor communal spaces, the circulations have been resolved with a concrete floor and the rest of the space with a draining gravel pavement that allows water permeability towards the subsoil.
Jacaranda trees provide protection from the sun and accompany the circulations through this communal space.
The result is a building with practically zero consumption (0.64 kWh/m2 x year ‘NZBE’) developed from a local economy model, passive strategies and with natural materials.
Photo
José Hevia
