Heritage Specialists. Green Building: Sustainable, Healthy & Energy-Efficient Home Construction
Sustainable Renovation
arkibide Respectful with each building´s identity Markina - Xemein
Elevators and Facades
Txorierreka 30-32,
2 elevators with a sun deck, in Ondarroa
These two adjoining communities lacked an elevator.
The solution adopted has been to install 1 elevator that disembarks on the kitchen balconies of each home and whose access has been protected by a transparent and practicable glass enclosure.
The result, a viewpoint with views of the estuary and the old town of Ondarroa.
The neighbors have achieved 100% accessibility, an energy improvement of the home and natural lighting through the glass viewing points attached to the façade.
The work has been used to bring gas and telecommunications outlets to each home in an orderly and discreet manner.
Abesua 15,
Accessibility solution in
Markina - Xemein
The access to the elevator had a few steps on the way, making it unaccessible to wheelchairs.
The solution was found by saving the gap through the porch, by means of a corten steel trihedron, including a ramp and access doorway in the same tones of the porch avoiding maintenance costs.
The neighbors have achieved 100% accessibility and the interior of the main entrance remains intact, without extra costs for demolition, new structure, etc.
The solution is totally reversible, it is possible to disassemble the set at any time if necessary.
Iderraga 1-6, 6 ascensores en
Markina - Xemein
​
This community of 6 portals, lacked elevators and owned a private central courtyard. Long and narrow, they feared that installing the elevators on the front would darken the homes at the end of the block.
The solution adopted has been 6 elevators that disembark on the balconies of the kitchens of each house and whose access has been protected by a glass enclosure, practicable in the upper part. The result, a viewpoint that has resolved all initial reluctance, making everything to be advantages. Neighbors have increased living space, have achieved 100% accessibility and natural lighting remains intact, through the glass towers that form the glass viewpoints attached to the façade, which welcome the landing of the elevator and allow the light to cross across the entire yard.
Guen Kalea 14
​
The concrete slab of the façade balconies showed a significant structural deterioration due to the poor covering of the steel bars, causing oxidation and the general impoverishment of the complex.
To define the rehabilitation project, it was taken into account that the building was dated 1940 and located in the old town, and consisted of the total elimination of the balconies and the redefinition of its design: Some steel cages as a structural concept and of enclosure, which in turn embraces a wooden floor and forms the railing, all conceived as a simple and refreshed element.
The electrical and telecommunications connections to each house were removed from the façade and the general installation inside was renewed.
The facade gained character and personality .
Elevator installation in Etxebarria
​
This 3-story residential building, built in the late 1970s, is currently inhabited by an elderly neighborhood. They decide to install an elevator, modifying the staircase of two sections of each floor for one of a single section, leaving space for an elevator attached to the rear facade.
We opted for an electric lift with a capacity for 8 people, 650kg of weight, and a free width of the doorway of 90cm.
The interior dimension of the cabin is 110cm wide x 140cm deep.
Building thermal envelope improvement, Mutriku
​
In this newly constructed building (2000), water infiltrations occurred through the façade, deteriorating the interiors of some of the homes, for which the property has been advised (due to the heterogeneity of the materials and encounters that constitute the original façade), its lined with a ventilated façade.
This fact is used to introduce greater thermal insulation, responding to the current environmental sensitivity of energy saving, improving the thermal behavior of the blind parts and of the thermal bridges.
Elevator installation in Ondarroa
​
The intention is to install a community elevator in the stairwell, replacing the current staircase and building a new staircase with dimensions and characteristics in accordance with current regulations attached to the rear facade, on land owned by the community.
The new staircase will be mainly an element of evacuation in case of emergency, open space, with slight visual impact, in contact with the ambient weather and open to sunlight. A ladder that appears to hang from the facade, paying homage to the fire escapes of New York.