This project belongs to a series which explores massing that liberates space, and that renders protagonist that which “is not”. Such “blank space”, in the form of courtyards, subtractions, or voids, articulates the building. Light is given by indirect and unique openings. The structure is solved with large surface elements, which are manifested as enclosure. This accumulation of load-bearing mass yields great facade panes, with generate shadows and transparencies of unique artistic value.

• Architects: Amas4arquitectura
  
• Project: Center for Persons With Disabilities “ASPAYM”
• Location: C/ San Juan de Sahagún, León – Spain
  
• Photography: Amas4arquitectura
• Design team: Javier López de Uribe, Fernando Zaparaín, Fermín Antuña, Eduardo García
• Collaborator: Pablo Guillén Llanos
• Consultants: Lucio Monje Ahijado (control), Pejarbo (structural), Grado Ingeniería (installations)
• Client: Fundación ASPAYM
• General contractor: Construcciones Moral Calvo S.A.
• Dates: Project 2006, Final 2011
• Built surface: 1.035,00 sqm
• Cost: 1.048.547,44 €

The concrete, colored black, allows us to obtain a continuity in which significant gaps open. The building occupies a triangular site with a very pronounced geometry, in an environment of large residential blocks. An orthogonal, single floor geometry is implanted in the lot, articulating a set with different tracesand heights, in which interstitial spaces refer to the geometry of the site.

The combination of built volumes and open spaces – in the shape ofcourtyards and plazas – takes advantage of the existing oriental planes and acacias on the roads nearby, generating different degrees of continuity between the interior and exterior spaces. The guarding of the center prevails, protecting the classrooms from the traffic noise, taking advantage of the shade generated by the yearly cycles of foliage. Compact exteriors contrast with a transparent and dense interior, fractured by diagonal and horizontal lights.

The entrance, lobby, cafeteria and multipurpose spaces are linked through a large porch pierced on the north side of the building. The classrooms, the space for physiotherapy and the administration area are organized around it, so that their solar exposure is optimized in the extreme weather of Leon.

The project proposes a material economy that combines exposed concrete, polycarbonate, and glass, arranged constructively so as to enhance passive energy efficiency. The chromatic contrast of the textured concrete stained black and the fuchsia plastic materials, as the hallmark of the building, contributes to a unique urban image while screening natural light, creating different effects inside.