Community Library and Plaza.
Barrio Mavito. Dorado. Puerto Rico. 1993
Emilio Martínez, Arquitecto
Emilio Martínez
with María Magdalena Campos and José Rafael Ramírez
[English] and
[Spanish]
This small Community Library and it's Plaza are enclave in an area completely dominated
by "parcelas": developments of very low density land use in rural areas, lacking
the traditional urban spaces and public buildings. These types of developments have
proliferated in Puerto Rico since the post-World War II era to provide housing for underprivileged
families who lived in the countryside. This project is oriented towards being a generator
of urban order and a promoter of community life.
The site, triangular in shape and of sloped topography, was sometimes used as a center
for activities. From this used, the idea to create a Plaza was conceived. The land
is utilized to it's maximum, emphasizing its narrow and longitudinal morphology.
A circular "pergola" is placed at the end of the Plaza as a counterpoint to the building,
but without taking away its importance.
As a variation on a theme, and as an academic exercise, we thought interesting to
appropriate the predominant elements of Palladio's Cogollo House dated 1572, and
of Villa Schwob by Le Corbusier of 1916; with the difference that this time we incorporate
them into a public space. We have made a transformation of scale from a domestic facade
to a public one. The facade's main blank square, besides being the central focus
of the composition, acts together with the portal roof, as a stage for public events.
Both elements act in harmony with the proposed public space; therefore the building becomes
an important piece in the urban scenario.
The barely 65 square meters of interior space, are divided in two levels. The reading
room on the first floor, with a double height space at its center, a counter surface
for the librarian and service areas. In the second level space has been allocated
for book stacks and a reference table.
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