Detalle Publicación

The SEAT Dining Hall in Barcelona, 1956: innovative approaches to structure, the use of aluminium, and building services

Título de la revista: CONSTRUCTION HISTORY
ISSN: 0267-7768
Volumen: 30
Número: 2
Páginas: 107 - 129
Fecha de publicación: 2015
Resumen:
Built in 1955, the SEAT Dining Hall in Barcelona was the first structure to use aluminium in Spanish civil engineering, and the building was awarded the first prize in the international competition held by Reynolds in 1957. The aim of this article is to study the technical and construction systems used in the SEAT Dining Hall building as the catalysts of its architectural design. We will begin by placing the building in its historical context and by presenting its creators. We will then analyse how its pioneering, externally-visible aluminium structure provides the backbone for the requirements program. The modern image of the enclosure will be studied as an indispensable response to the climate in Barcelona. Finally, we will reconstruct the building services system for hygrothermic conditioning, for which there are no graphical records, in order to evaluate its ground-breaking techniques and how it is integrated into the building. In the final analysis, we will see how the collaboration between the architects Ortiz-Echagüe, Barbero and de la Joya with the engineers was fundamental in this building, which should be recognized as one of the most innovative, efficient and modern structures which make up the patrimony, both Spanish and international, of the 20th century
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