Plaza América Building

The building is located at the northern end of the current La Cartuja technology park. In the immediate vicinity, to the south, is the Isla Mágica theme park, on the surface originally destined for Lake Spain during the 1992 Universal Exhibition. This remote location means that its accessibility is limited to public transport and private cars. , so the surroundings of the building are generally occupied by numerous vehicles.

 

The building has an approximately square plan, in which the uses are located following a principle of distributive rationality closely linked to the vertical communication nuclei and the position of the free spaces. The rooms occupied by the apartments are located in the four corners of the building, which have a small interior patio that provides them with natural lighting. These corners are delimited by vertical communication cores, to each of which a service core is associated. These communication nuclei serve as a transition to the spaces intended for classrooms, located on the longer sides of the building, between the four aforementioned corners.

 

Among the transformations carried out in the building, the opening of patios is what demonstrates the advantages offered by the original standard structural condition, allowing the typology to be customized according to environmental and energy efficiency criteria. The purpose of the adaptation project is to incorporate natural light into the classroom rooms, two patios open to the East and West facades allow achieving the appropriate degree of comfort. This succession of patios is completed with the two interior atriums, which occupy the heart of the building and allow the entry of overhead light.

 

The main façade of the building faces south, forming a generously sized access atrium, which is crossed until reaching the main lobby, which occupies a central position. From this lobby, you get a complete view of the functioning of the building: the two large atriums are joined on the ground floor through the void under the library, which leads directly to the School's administration area.

 

These two atriums have careful lighting, which extends to all the rooms of the building. In the case of these two most representative spaces, their intensity is sufficient to allow the existence of winter gardens in flower beds. In the West atrium, this parterre has the presence of a turboprop wing, which takes on a monumental status in this space. On the south side of this same atrium, the original wood and iron structure of the Giraldillo is preserved, also of monumental presence due to its scale.

 

In the southern corners of both atriums, the panoramic elevators are located, which are incorporated as viewpoints while connecting with the upper levels of distribution galleries. These also show the scope of the structural transformation experienced by the building: the second and fourth levels are supported by the large circular supports shown in the atrium, while the third and fifth are set back and hang from braces. smaller section metals.

 

Two unique spaces deserve to be mentioned in this scheme. Firstly, the Library, which extends three stories high from the first floor, and whose sides look out into the void of the two main atriums. It has a large triple-height central space, towards which the last two floors turn. The feeling of transparency that prevails with the atriums is also reinforced in the reading room through a large circular skylight, which visually connects with the administration area immediately below. The roof of the library, also incorporated in the adaptation to the new use, is resolved by two monitors facing south in the shape of a conoid, under which slats are arranged at progressive distances that allow homogeneous lighting of the interior space.

 

Equally unique is the building's assembly hall, which is currently the largest at the University of Seville. Its stalls are organized into two sections, with a total of 700 seats, which include boxes on both sides of the hall. Due to the particular needs of this space, and unlike the natural light control techniques used in the rest of the building, the lighting in the assembly hall is exclusively artificial.

 

The exterior appearance of the building is determined by the burgundy color of the Robertson aluminum panel used in the original construction of the facade. New horizontal openings have been made on it, intended to facilitate the homogeneous distribution of natural light inside the rooms.

 

This information has been taken in its entirety from the HISTORICAL-ARTISTIC HERITAGE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SEVILLE