The project respects and intensifies the memory of the former activities, their scars and atmosphere, that conform the qualities of this place.
Proposals / What?
1. Project economy; to invest in the program.
2. Temporality of the proposal. When the project started, the space was rented, so it had to last long and be easily dismantled, transported. A campsite adapted to its environment. From temporality to reversibility.
3. To clean and adapt. The building has enough architectural qualities, it is only necessary to install new technologies and services. To keep and respect its atmosphere, a result of the biography of the building.
4. Cal Massó is not a museum, it is a production space where creativity is intensified by direct interaction of people. The project builds this idea.
At the same time, it allows a diversity of uses, working with a system that enriches the program. The new intervention must collaborate with the place:
Prioritary interventions / How?
1. To intensify the existing atmosphere. Sediments are not eliminated, they are worked with. To use the patina, a print of its former uses (the architect Pere Caselles, distillery, carpentry…).
2. Climatization. To get the different necessary airs to work, relate or contemplate in it.
During the first phase, a light enclosing system had to be developed, so that it could be easily assembled and removed. An assembling system that adapts to the particularities of the building (including its history) turning into doors, windows, floor, toilets, walls… It is thought to be as easy, fast and tireless as possible. We used larch three-layers boards and polycarbonate for its lightness and flexibility. We set out a workshop space, where artists in residence could develop the works that they would present at the end of their stay.
The arts center became quite popular among locals, and in 2007 we were commissioned a second phase. The municipality was now the owner of the whole Cal Massó building. By that time, the needs were clearer. A bar, an office, a storage, a bigger performance and gathering hall, and a patio that would become the core of the building’s life. A first floor was needed within the existing structure. In order to comply with legal regulations, we used a steel structure instead of wood. It was totally made off-site. We could reuse many of the objects and materials found in the distillery, giving them a totally different function.